The Walking Dead: Town Across The River
by TheBigBadWolf1
Summary: AU. Sequel to Camp Carver and Parker's Run! The group has hit point of no return. There's no going back and there's no time left. Lee, Clem and the group have to hurry on their trip to Wellington while they deal with an old foe...
1. Chapter 1 - Fallen

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 1 – Fallen

Lee felt as his body fell on the ground. He had jumped to the floor just as the firefight had started to prevent getting hit. His hearing was suppressed, but he could distinguish various guns being fired repeatedly. The harsh way he had thrown himself to the ground caused his head to get dazed, his vision slightly blurred. The adrenaline and fear took control of Lee's body, he couldn't even feel the contact of the freezing snow against his skin.

Lee couldn't stay like this, he had to run to cover. He had an advantage though, perhaps the Russians hadn't shot at him yet because they thought he was dead. Trying to keep that leverage, he raised his head, only enough to look at his surroundings. The first thing he saw was a desperate Arvo bent on his knees close to Natasha's body. She exhibited a gunshot wound to the chest, and she was verified dead. But Arvo was calling out her name and speaking in Russian as he hysterically pressed the woman's chest, trying to revive her. But the only way she was coming back was as a walker if the brain wasn't destroyed.

Lee noticed as someone stepped inside his field of view. He gave his head a nudge and recognized the person as Mike. He paced backwards, hurriedly trying to find cover. "Shit, I'm hit, I'm hit!" He shouted, grunting as the pain set in his left arm.

"Mike, get over here!" Lee thought he heard Bonnie say, although he couldn't spot her. He looked more to his right, and saw Luke hiding behind the stone wall, firing his AK-47 at the enemies, a war expression drawn on his face.

"Lee!" Luke called out to him, before ducking away to avoid Vitali's and Buricko's shooting.

Lee continued to examine what was going on before he could recover the strength to get up and run. Lee decided to get a view on where his rivals were. He noted Buricko, who had a blood trail at his feet, and seemed incapable to walk. He was viciously firing an automatic shotgun, and was whirling to crawl behind some trees.

Further along Buricko, Lee saw Kenny, who insulted Vitali and fired a couple round at him, before Vitali got up from the huge rock he was hiding in, and fired back at Kenny, who struggled to keep himself covered in the slim tree. Lee then saw what most terrified him. He saw Carlos bowed down over something. His daughter, Sarah. He cried uncontrollably, and Kenny was trying to get his attention, as it was hard for him to protect himself and Carlos at the same time, but Carlos seemed disconnected from the world.

He then glimpsed as he watched who the second casualty was. It was Alvin. His body lumped on the floor next to his recent deceased wife's feet, and his head was torn in half. The blood and brains combined the disgusting red with the crystal white from the snow.

What was scarier was when he heard a baby cry. _What?! _And then, in Alvin's arms, he saw it. He eyed the baby wrapped in a light-green blanket, unable to protect itself from the battle. Lee had to save him!

Lee started to gradually crawl in its direction. Right now, out in the open, he could only pray that he wouldn't cop a bullet. He continued to use his legs to push his body forward, until a bullet nearly hit him square in the brain by a few millimeters. He let out a small scream, and observed as Luke had a concerned expression on his face. "What're you doin'?! Get over here!" He whispered to the urban.

"Cover me!" Lee muttered to him, before rising on his feet and making a mad dash towards the newborn. He confirmed that he kept his head low, and then he gripped the baby with all his might and sprinted until he was behind the stone wall.

"Holy shit! I didn't even see him out there!" Luke confessed, feeling slightly guilty that if Lee wasn't there, the baby could have died. "Good work, Lee." Luke stood up to shoot, but was forced to immediately get down as Buricko fired and the shotgun pellets hit right in the wall.

Lee turned his head, and to his joy he spotted Clementine right next to him.

"Lee!" She exclaimed, reaching him for a hug.

"Clem!" He went along with her hug. "Clem, I need you to stay here, okay?! Keep your head down and don't get shot, okay?" He ordered. Clementine then nervously nodded at him. Lee leaned his back against the wall, wanting to pull out his Glock 17 but he couldn't seeing he had the baby in both his arms.

"Shit. Okay…okay, we gotta do somethin' y'all." Luke stated, reloading his assault rifle. "We're pinned down here!" Vitali and Buricko kept concentrating their fire. The worst was that besides Luke's AK, they only had small pistols, yet the two Russians had some strong weaponry. Lee peeked through the gap between him and Luke and he regarded Mike and Bonnie concealed behind a giant rock and around four trees.

"We can always wait for him to run outta ammo!" Lee proposed.

"Who knows how long that'll take!" Luke voiced, getting harder for him to remain hidden. "And how many people we'll lose until then!"

"This don't have to get any worse than it is!" Kenny tried to calm down the situation, but Vitali simply replied by firing at Kenny.

"Я убью вас всех!" Vitali threatened.

"English, motherfucker!"

"I kill every one of you!" Vitali repeated in American, before shooting even quicker than before.

"If I can just get over to that side of the wall, maybe I can get the angle on this guy." Luke declared. "Cover me, okay?"

"Okay, I'll do it!" Lee asserted, passing the baby onto Clementine, and holding his Glock 17 with both hands.

"Okay, I just need the distraction." Luke affirmed, getting ready to run. "On my go. GO!" Luke got on his feet and raced to his destination. Lee peeped and reached out his arm, and fired at Vitali's position, almost hitting his head. Luke was almost reaching Lee, but then he spotted Vitali preparing to fire again, so Lee shot in his direction again. He missed, but Vitali stayed put. Buricko was now firing with increased anger because he had missed Luke, but his brains were blown all over the ground by a bullet, courtesy of Kenny.

"Are you okay, Luke?" Lee enquired as Luke sat down next to him.

"I didn't get shot, so yeah, I'm fine."

Lee walked along the wall, until he came across Ben, who seemed to be in shock. He was clutching his pistol, talking nonsense. "Hey, kid, snap out of it!" Lee said, putting a hand on his shoulder and waving him around, but he stayed still. "Ben!" The teenager slowly turned his head and faced Lee. "Ben, we need you! Can you hear me?!"

"Yes! Yeah…" Ben said in a scared tone.

"Ben, we need your help to win this! Without you, we'll be doomed!" Lee told him, hoping that this would get the kid inspired.

Ben stared at him for a couple seconds. "I…what should I do?"

"Get down and avoid being shot." Lee advised. "And be careful with that thing!" Lee told him, pointing his gun's barrel into the sky, that was previously aiming at him.

Kenny was starting to get seriously pinned down. He had to find a way to get the upper hand. Then, he viewed Arvo, who was broken up by Natasha's loss. Kenny shot at Vitali some of the remaining shots he had to keep him distracted, and then he rushed over to Arvo, grabbed him by the collar and used him as a human shield.

"You get out here or I put a bullet in this kid's head!" Kenny threatened, even though he wasn't sure if Vitali understood him. Lee gaped above, and saw what Kenny was doing.

"Kenny, what're you doing?!" Lee roared in order to be heard.

"I'm ending this. Get out here, right fuckin' now!" Kenny concluded, determined to shoot Arvo if Vitali didn't obey. Against his will, the last remaining Russian complied. He got up but was still wielding his AK-47 at Kenny. "Quit fightin' me boy!" Kenny ordered at Arvo, who was kicking him. "You think I'm bluffing?! Get out here!"

Suddenly, Natasha's corpse reanimated, but not as a living person. She now had fully white eyes and a stale skin, and she sloppily was crawling towards Lee. The urban man firmly gripped his gun, aimed it toward the woman and ended her life as a walker with a bullet.

"NO!" Arvo screamed, tears starting to stream down his face, devastated by the loss of his sister. "Natasha, Natasha!" He shouted as he managed to break free from Kenny and kneeled near her cadaver. Kenny was left exposed, so by instinct he jumped flatly on the floor. Vitali smiled and pronounced words in Russian, preparing to end Kenny's life.

A gunshot was heard. Vitali gurgling and gasping for air, and he saw that there was a hole in his throat. He wrapped his palm around the wound, essaying to stop the bleeding. He fell to the ground, doing all he could to hold on to dear life. The group elevated their heads, to detect their savior. Everyone recognized Nick – who was followed by Jane - unbelievably staring at the man that was dying because of him. Kenny appeared and shot a bullet into Vitali's skull without hesitation.

"I…I…" Nick's rifle shivered in his hands. Jane looked at Vitali and Kenny back and forth, incredulous that Kenny had done what he had just done.

"Alright, it's safe to come out." Kenny stated, as everybody stood up like rabbits exiting their home. Kenny took the precaution of taking the AK-47. Bonnie approached Clementine and offered to take the baby. Luke ran in his friend's direction, joyous to see that his friend had made it. Lee crossed Kenny, he too was shocked by his redneck friend's actions.

"Shit, that was, uh…that was intense." Luke spoke loudly. "Nick, you alright?" He asked with concern.

"I…I never killed someone before…" Nick claimed, looking at the result of his actions. Luke supportively patted him on the shoulder.

"Well, uh…thanks for saving us." Lee thanked.

"Yeah, man, I thought that was it." Mike commented, scratching his head.

"So, decided to rejoin us?" Lee talked to Jane away from the others.

"Kinda, I…" She explained. "I found your friend while I was out. We heard the gunfire, so we came to help."

"Well, I'm glad you're back." Lee said.

"What the hell is wrong with your friend Kenny, anyways?" Jane demanded in an angry tone. "He straight up shot this dude!"

"Look, I know he has a temper. And, even though he takes rash decisions, he knows to keep us safe. And don't worry, it's not likely that he'll slit our throats in our sleep." Lee soothed her.

The group gathered around Rebecca and Alvin, who had both been shot to death. A silence swept the survivors, except for Carlos who hadn't stopped sobbing his daughter's demise.

"Jesus…" Ben murmured, looking away from the horrendous sight.

"How'd this happen?" Mike sadly rambled.

"She turned. Lee spotted it first, and he did what he had to. To protect the baby." Bonnie stated what she saw, starting at Lee whom looked back at her to confirm that it was true.

"It ain't your fault, okay?" Luke reassured his friend. "She just…she just lost too much blood. It ain't nobody's fault."

"You saved the boy's life." Mike agreed, placing his hands on his pockets.

"They would've been good parents." Clementine said, catching the adults' attention. She then clung onto Lee's arm as usual. And then for some reason, memories of her mom and dad came flowing through her mind. With all that had happened, she had forgotten them.

"Yeah…yeah they would've sweetheart." Bonnie added in a sweet tone of voice for the young girl. "Don't worry, Alvin and Rebecca…we'll take care of your boy…"

"You piece of shit!" Kenny profaned, as he paced towards Arvo and punched him in the face. His hands were soaked in blood from trying to reanimate Natasha.

Mike and Luke sprinted and tackled Kenny away from Arvo, and placed themselves in between Kenny and Arvo. "It's over man, he ain't a threat to us!" Mike defended the remaining Russians.

"How can you say that?! Of course he is!" Kenny conveyed, unsheathing his Glock and facing it towards Arvo. "Get outta the way!" He shouted, but he couldn't shoot seeing Mike and Luke were in the path.

"He isn't shooting at us, so there's no need for this!" Lee tried to convince the hillbilly.

"Oh, yeah? Doesn't mean that he wouldn't shoot us if he had a gun!" Kenny replied, searching for an opening.

"I have house…food…supplies." Arvo revealed to the group, drowning in tears. "I take you there!"

"Bullshit!"

"No, no!" Arvo beseeched. "Is true! We have place. Not far. Food."

"I think he wants to help!" Ben intervened.

"Stay outta this, shitbird!" Kenny instructed. "He's just tryin' to save his skin! Why would you help us, huh?!"

"I…I not want to see more people dead!" Arvo nervously explained.

"Then close your eyes and I'll make it quick!" Kenny firmly said, but smoother.

"We need the food, all of this won't matter if we starve to death!" Lee interfered.

"Lee's right. We're low on supplies as it is!" Bonnie backed him up, lulling the baby.

"It's worth the risk to check this place out. Trust him, don't trust him, it doesn't matter. We should go anyway. We just need to be careful. It can't be too far from here." Jane was starting to convince Kenny, but he didn't break.

"You stay outta this too! You're the reason these fuckers came after us in the first place!" Kenny accused her, gesturing at Arvo.

"Don't blame Jane for what these assholes did!" Lee supported the woman.

"Think about the baby." Bonnie divulged, causing Kenny to look at the infant.

"Fuck! Fine!" Kenny grunted in anger as he stored his gun. "Anyone got anythin' to tie this shitbird up?"

"Yeah, I got somethin'." Bonnie told him, as she headed to tie Arvo.

Kenny and Bonnie were working on tying Arvo, but the rest of the group neared Carlos, who was still on his knees, crying his eyes out. Lee beckoned for Clem not to look. Sarah had three bullet holes in her chest, and a final one that got her right through one of the lenses of her eyeglasses.

"Carlos, I…I know it must be hard…but we gotta go…" Luke alleged, touching Carlos on his shoulder.

"I-I-I…I can't leave my baby!" Carlos declared in anguish.

"She's in peace now, Carlos." Nick said, chewing his thumbnail.

Luke and Nick both grabbed Carlos by his armpits and pulled him up. Surprisingly, he didn't fight back. The duo of farmboys slowly insisted on him to walk, and they gradually caught up with the group, until Sarah's corpse was out of sight.

Lee sighed, imagining if one day he'd find himself on Carlos' place and Clem in Sarah's. He shrugged that thought off, and they continued to march. He hoped that this place Arvo was talking about wasn't a trap. They needed a break again.

**Author's Note: Here's the first chapter, my friends! Please Sarah fans, don't kill me, I just did what I though necessary! **


	2. Chapter 2 - Comforting Lies

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 2 – Comforting Lies

**A/N: First of all, sorry for making this chapter so short, but my internet's been having some issues (I watch a walkthrough as I write) and it's been impossible to watch a video without it stopping to buffer every 2 seconds. And second, I need to get an answer from you guys. Do you want me to continue this through Season 3? I need to know so I can give this fanfic some closure.**

**That's enough for this author's note. Have fun and enjoy this chapter.**

The group was continuing their small journey. This time Arvo was leading the way, who had his wrists tied and paced slowly due to his leg injury. Kenny was right behind him, holding a gun to his back. Bonnie was carrying the baby, and Mike accompanied her so he could learn to care of him, in case the need arrived. Nick and Luke were near them, accordingly wielding a Winchester Model 70 and an AK-47. Ben was right behind them, wanting to aid the group if more Russians appeared. Carlos was limping with difficulty, still drowning in tears and often looking back, thinking if he should go back for his daughter. But she was dead, and there was no denying it. And if he did it, his friends would stop him. Clementine was strolling next to her guardian as usual. What really concerned Lee was her. All the violence she'd seen…she didn't talk about it, but he knew that it affected her.

Lee was this time at the rear of their little convoy. They had lost so many people until now…it was all adding up. Reggie, Sarah, Alvin…and so many others.

"Look, I know you're probably pissed about me leaving." Jane confessed, walking next to Lee. "When I heard the gunshots, I…I knew it was a mistake. If it helps, the thing I'd usually do is walk away for good…but I didn't."

"I'm not mad." Lee said, turning his head to look at her with his only functional eye. "I'm glad you're back with us. And you saved our asses. If it weren't for you…I'm not sure we'd be breathing by now."

"Thanks, Lee." She thanked, feeling the weight of the guilt wear off her. "That's good, because…you and Clem are 90 percent the reason I came back."

"I suppose he's the ten percent." Lee guessed, gesturing his finger at Luke. Jane turned away her who fell upon the snowy forest. Nobody could hide something from Lee; he could read people like he was some kind of psychologist.

"Well…I'm gonna try to make this work." Jane changed the subject. Lee would usually grin at how Jane avoided his statement, but with all the shit that had occurred...a smile just couldn't sprout in his face. "All I can do is…promise I won't abandon you again." Jane said, trying to prove to Lee that she would keep her word. "Which to be fair I've never done before. Which I probably should have a couple times by now."

"You don't gotta point the gun at him the whole time." Mike affirmed.

"You forget what we just went through?!" Kenny demanded. Arvo was obviously not running away with that leg injury, but if more people in his crew popped outta the woods and started firing at them, Kenny could use him as a bargaining chip.

"He ain't goin' anywhere, Kenny. No need to get your arm all sore." Bonnie backed up, but the redneck kept the gun firm in place.

"I'm worried about Kenny." Jane muttered, narrowing her eyes. "He's…he's in a dark place. We gotta keep an eye on him."

"Kenny…he's been through a lot. Probably more than all of us. I too am worried of what he might do. Even back when I first met him, he had a temper just like now." Lee explained.

"You're the one that he trusts." Jane stated, as they both stopped walking, and Clementine stopped too, seeing that they had done the same. "That he really trusts. That means that you're gonna have to be the one to pull him back."

"I'll try."

"I know you will."

"I just hope he doesn't go too far down the line." Lee admitted.

Bonnie interrupted her marching, before looking back and noticing the three lagging behind. "C'mon slowpokes." She shouted, as Lee, Jane and Clemmy hurried their pace to catch up with the group.

"Guys, I don't like this." Ben opinionated, with his arms folded. "What if it's a trap? Shouldn't we just check out that town as we planned?"

"The town's too far." Kenny riposted, keeping his eyes on Arvo at all times. "We'll freeze to death out in this cold. We gotta take a fuckin' chance. And if it is a trap, we got this commie son of a bitch to use as a hostage."

Ben shut up, again being defeated by Kenny's arguments. He just wished that he could do something his peers would admire. Something that could help his friends. But he just couldn't. Back at the fire fight, he just froze, and if he'd taken action instead of cowering, Alvin and Sarah could have been alive by now.

"How 'bout we just stop here for a while. Give him some time." Nick suggested, pointing his head toward Carlos, who didn't seem to have listened.

"Fine." Kenny said, sighing. "All right, wait there." He ordered, but he perceived that the Russian teen didn't stop. "Hey, what'd I say?!" He screamed, before running up to him, grabbing the back of his neck and pushing him to the ground beside a rock. "When I tell you somethin', you fuckin' listen, understand?!"

"C'mon, Kenny, there's no need for that!" Mike voiced, as Nick and Luke indicated Carlos a tree trunk for him to rest up.

"He's getting what he deserves." Kenny smoothly said, biting his lip. Then he turned around and stared down at Arvo, shouting insults and orders at him.

"Kenny!" Lee intervened with a harsh tone. He had to pull him back, kinda like Jane said. "He understands!"

"Just fuckin' stay put." Kenny ordered with two fingers.

"I'm gonna talk to Kenny. He doesn't have to treat him that way. Kid's been through enough." Mike alleged. "You all right here?"

"Yeah, yeah, go on and talk to him. Here, just take the baby?" Bonnie said.

"Okay…" Mike said as if in slow-mo, as Bonnie placed the infant in his arms. He then slowly strolled towards Kenny, careful not to let the baby fall flat on the ground. Jane too paced along with him, to go and talk some sense into him.

"Lee?" Clementine called out. Lee spun around on his heels and noticed Clem, beckoning at him.

"What is it, sweet pea? Something the matter?" Lee enquired, kneeling at her height.

"Lee…are we going to be able to find my parents…like you promised?" She asked with her hands intertwined.

_Oh no. _Lee knew this question would arrive soon, but he never really prepared for it. Lee desired that he could give her some kind of hope, but they couldn't. For all they knew, Lee and the group could be in Canada or in Greenland, and after hearing those recorded messages when this entire mess started, he highly doubted her parents made it.

"Sweet heart…" Words seemed to get stuck on Lee's throat as he tried to pronounce them. "I…your parents…didn't make it…"

"What?" Clementine inquired, starting to feel the tears emerging from her eyes. "How...how do you know?"

"I…I heard some recording messages when I first found your house…and…they didn't make it."

There it was. The cold, rough truth. The one that caused little Clementine to start crying uncontrollably, knowing that she would never see them again.

"I'm…I'm sorry, sweet pea." Lee sorrowfully apologized, even though that he had been honest. Perhaps he shouldn't have been. "But even if they're alive…we wouldn't be able to find them." Lee added, but Clementine was soothed and kept on sobbing. "I…I know it's hard, Clem." He finished, as he pulled Clementine for a hug, but shockingly she refused it. Lee widened his eye as he saw Clementine turn around and sitting in a rock, facing the forest. _Great work, idiot!_ Now Clementine probably hated Lee's guts, and she probably would stay that way for a long while now.

"Heya, Lee." Bonnie greeted, approaching Lee, holding a bottle of peroxide and some bandages. "Mind if I change your bandage?"

"You mean my eye patch?" He nervously enquired, and Bonnie just nodded. "Fine, let's get it over with."

Lee gripped his bandage and tore it out, revealing a big stain of dry blood along with the torn eyelids that still carried what remained of the eye: a blob of bloody jelly. Bonnie twitched her lips at the sight of it, and Lee clenched his fists, knowing that this would hurt like hell. Bonnie poured some of the disinfectant onto a rag and then prepared to lay it on Lee's eye.

"Ready?" Bonnie asked. Lee asserted with a nod. Bonnie gently pressed the rag against Lee's eye, and he instantly reacted. Lee backed away a step, it felt like a lighter that was lit inside his head. Lee shook his head and then stood up again, and he let Bonnie do her thing. It still hurt like shit when she pushed the rag onto his wound, but this time Lee was prepared for the pain.

"What happened with Clem?" Bonnie demanded.

"I…" Lee grunted, feeling the burning sting of the peroxide reacting with his skin once more. "I had to tell her…that her parents didn't make."

"Geez…" Bonnie gasped. "Somethin' like that can hit a young girl pretty hard."

"Now I think she's pissed at me."

"Don't worry, she might be sad and enraged now, but she surely doesn't hate you." She commented. "But she's a strong girlie. I'm sure she'll get around it. All done." Bonnie said, finishing her nursing on Lee. She picked up a bandage and wrapped it around Lee's head, with a big squared gaze covering the damaged eye.

"Thanks." Lee concluded, as Bonnie walked back to where she was before.

"Alright guys, that's 'nuff time." Kenny announced, whom had the baby in his arms now. "Let's head out."

Everybody grabbed the little supplies they had and then they followed Kenny, who still used one hand to wave a gun at Arvo. The group proceeded in their walk toward what could be a trap for them, in their usual positions. Clementine wasn't walking too close to Lee now, and well, he kinda felt like trash. He just hoped that she wouldn't do something stupid.


	3. Chapter 3 - Rest Up

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 3 – Rest Up

The group continued to stumble towards Arvo's house in their usual convoy formation. Clementine refused to be anywhere near Lee, and well, he now was regretting the answer he'd given to the little girl. But after all, it was probably best for her to know the truth than some lie, right?

Suddenly, the group came upon some steep hills, which led to a gigantic power station surrounded by a fence to keep out the walkers. There were various big turbines with hazardous signs implying not to touch the electric materials, and there all kinds of thin and tall towers with wires wrangled up in them.

"Is that it?" Kenny asked the Russian, holding the baby with one hand and pointing a gun at Arvo with the other.

"What?" Arvo inquired like he had no idea of what he was talking about. "It what?"

"What do you mean?! The place you're fuckin' takin' us!" Kenny jogged his memory, getting sick of his attitude.

"Arvo, is this where you're taking us?" Lee asked in a smooth tone.

"Answer him, goddammit!" Kenny repeated, nearing the gun towards Arvo.

"No…it's at the house." Arvo explained in crippled English. "Is still more walk. Some more hours."

"Goddammit! I knew this was gonna happen!" Kenny admitted, waving his trigger hand in anger. "This guy fucked us!"

"It's getting dark. Maybe we should stop for the night." Bonnie suggested, as a dark purple sky started to set in above the survivors' head.

"This is bullshit." Kenny said.

"She's right." Nick supported Bonnie. "It'll be dangerous to travel during the night."

"Shut up, Vanilla Ice, this ain't your call!" Kenny insulted, looking back at him.

"Guys, stop!" Lee again established order like a judge in a courthouse. "Being at each other's throats isn't going to help! Let's just have a calm quiet night, and we'll keep it up in the morning!"

Everybody was silent, knowing that everyone agreed with him. After the rough deaths that they'd suffered the past few days, they could take a rest.

"I think we could go with that." Luke opinioned, as everyone nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, the baby started crying, frightened with all the arguing. "Oh, shit, sorry about that. It's alright buddy, it's alright…" He calmed the baby as he stored away his Glock 17.

"If we're staying, we should scout this place out." Jane proposed, following her survival instincts.

"Alright, y'all wait here." Kenny ordered. "I'll go make sure this ain't some walker nest we're lockin' ourselves into."

"Can I go?" Ben enquired. Kenny instantly put his thinking gears to working. He still was pissed off at the shitbird since he'd find out that Ben had been splitting supplies to Carver and his people. But, what could go wrong? And an extra hand could always help.

"Fine, fine, just don't screw up." Kenny consented, slightly hesitant though. "AND no shootin' unless we have to. No sense attractin' attention to us." He said.

"I'll go with you." Jane volunteered, with a hand up her hip.

"See, see if you can calm down a bit." Kenny said, passing the baby onto Lee, and then he, Jane and Ben climbed down the hill to investigate the power station. He cradled him a little bit, and then he looked at his cutie face and his silly eyes, and he remembered how much he wanted to have a kid of his own before the dead time.

The baby kept crying, and Lee thought that perhaps it would be best to pass him to a more expert person. His gaze fell upon Mike. "No, that's all you." He denied.

"Ssh, ssh, it's okay." Lee spoke to the incomprehensible infant, who stopped sobbing.

"You're a natural." Mike complimented, with his arms folded.

"Here, Clem, wanna hold him?" Lee suggested, and she silently agreed without a word. Lee passed the baby onto her, who was rapidly soothed.

"I think he likes you." Bonnie said, bowing down close to the baby.

"I doubt it." Clementine disagreed, as she didn't see herself as the best caretaker.

"Nah, I don't believe it." The southern woman differed her statement. "Here." Bonnie beckoned for her to pass her the baby, and she obliged. Bonnie then walked a few feet away from them.

"Look, sweet pea…" Lee took this chance to chat with Clementine. "I…I know you're angry at me." He said as he was on his knees and Clementine coldly looked back at him. "But I only told you the truth so you'd know. Understand?" She nodded with her eyes concentrated somewhere else. "You can have this if you want…like I promised." Lee pulled out a rectangular object from his pocket: a walkie-talkie. The girl asserted by grabbing it and continually staring at it. Lee thought it was best not to push the girl any longer, so he got on his feet just as he perceived Kenny, Jane and Ben emerging from the tiny cliff below them.

"It's clear. You can come!" Ben announced.

OOO

Right now it was pitch dark and they couldn't see a thing. Most of the group, with exception of Jane, was gathered around a small campfire which Jane had lit up with her impressing survival skills. They were cramped amid some giant generators, simply resting and getting to know each other. Arvo was chained up to a post with some rope, and Kenny had insisted on carrying the baby all the time.

"Today's my birthday." Luke confessed out of nowhere, gripping everybody's attention. "Near as I can tell at least."

"Oh, shit, I completely forgot!" Nick admitted, feeling guilty for forgetting his best friend's anniversary, whom he had known for twenty years now. "Well, man, happy birthday."

"Yeah, happy birthday, Luke." Everyone chanted around the fireplace.

"So, Luke, how old are you now?" Lee quizzed, guessing that he couldn't be past his thirties.

"I'm twenty-seven years old." Luke told his close friends. "Sure feel a lot older."

"Don't even start with that shit!" Kenny said.

"Got outta college five years ago…feels like a million years…" Luke stated. To be honest, now that Lee thought about it, Lee couldn't remember the last time he watched TV, drove a car or ate a home-cooked meal, things of the quotidian life.

"What did you study?" Ben curiously asked. If he had to guess, Luke probably was a farmboy before everything started.

"Majored in art History!" Luke proudly said in a loud tone of voice.

"No shit? I used to teach History up at UGA." Lee frowned in surprise, seeing that he was greatly interested in all kinds of History.

"Great, you two will get along just fine." Kenny smirked.

"Did get a minor in agriculture." Luke added with sadness. "Keep the old man happy."

"Shouldn't we like…sing? To commemorate?" Ben suggested.

"Isn't that kinda…lame?" Mike contradicted, twisting his face.

"C'mon, just to lift the spirits." The teenagers sheepishly insisted.

"Y'know what, Ben, I think I got somethin' way better to celebrate." Bonnie alleged, as she arched over the box she was sitting in and rummaged through her backpack, until she pulled out a bottle of old rum. Strong booze. "Savin' it for a special occasion, and bein' your birthday n' all."

"I wouldn't mind that." Lee commented. He usually preferred to stay frosty, but, to hell with it, they were celebrating, and Lee needed to take his mind off of things.

Luke gazed at the red bottle. "Feel a lil' guilty takin' the first sip."

"Wait, you gotta make a toast!" Bonnie cheerfully stopped him.

"I'm not really the, uh…"

"C'mon, birthday boy, it don't have to be fancy." Bonnie repeated, looking at Luke.

"A toast means we all got somethin' to drink." Mike furnished his opinion.

"We'll just pass the bottle around afterwards, go on." Bonnie gave Luke the green light.

Luke stared at the ten people that were gawking him, awaiting for him to talk. Luke cleared his throat as he mentally issued his speech. "To the loved ones that we've lost along the way…" He voiced, lifting the bottle in the air. "And to the hope that we see them again, some day."

"Here, here." Mike hummed.

"That was real nice." Bonnie said gloomily.

"Really? I didn't mean for it to rhyme…" Luke admitted, eyeing back at Bonnie.

"Well, I got first watch." Kenny interrupted, as he got up and prepared to walk away.

"C'mon, Kenny, we're all together here. Stay with us." Lee pleaded.

"Nah, you guys stay warm. I'm gonna post up near the hole in the fence there. Holler if ya need anythin'."

"Fire's real nice. Plenty o' room if ya wanna get warm." Bonnie shouted over to Jane as Luke took the first slug, who was with her arms crossed leaned against the fence parallel to them.

"Maybe in a bit." She flatly replied.

"I didn't expect her to come back. Just when I thought I had her figured out, she up and surprises."

"She found me while I was lost in the woods." Nick told the group. "Then we heard the gunshots, and…we came over to see what it was about."

"Well, that's a good thing. You saved our asses." Mike acknowledged.

"It ain't no secret how Luke feels about her." Bonnie teased, causing Luke to down his head in shame. "C'mon, I'm just teasin'."

"It was stupid." He said with a tremble voice.

"I understand." She recognized with a smile. "She's a pretty girl, once you get past all the dirt and guts."

"I don't know…I guess I just wanted to forget about this shit for like…ten minutes." Luke affirmed with a grin.

"Ten minutes? Man, that's longer than I'd last at this point." Mike mocked.

"Wait, Luke did what?!" Ben questioned, only now finding about that Luke had been...well you guys know.

"Didn't know the news?" Mike smirked and Ben nodded negatively. "Luke got down with Jane."

"Oh, c'mon man." Luke said, slightly embarrassed.

"Guys, we have a little one around." Lee remarked, gesturing his head to Clementine.

"Sorry, sorry." Bonnie excused for herself and the others.

Luke took one last, burning sip before giving the bottle to Nick, who was sitting beside him. Nick chugged viciously the content, and when he was done he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and panted from the fire cooking in his throat. Then he spotted Carlos, who had his face buried in his arms in the corner. He was the one that needed some rum.

"Hey, pass the bottle over to him." Nick softly ordered, giving the bottle to Mike, who need passed it over to Carlos.

Carlos raised his head that had its cheeks and eyes red as roses, probably from the crying. He realized that Mike had his arm hung in front of his face, and his hand was clenching onto a bottle of rum. He picked it up and stared at it, before leaning his lips against the hole in it and letting gravity drop the booze onto his mouth. He took various sips, but he didn't stop, he just kept drinking. Everybody widened their eyes, seeing how Carlos was chugging non-stop. Only when he ran out of oxygen he took a break. He breathed violently and his esophagus was like a keg of inflammable gas. "Thanks." He said his first word that day and gave the booze to Ben.

"Can I drink a bit?" Ben enquired.

"Go ahead, kid." Mike replied. Ben pulled the bottle well pressed against his mouth, and he broke the contact between his lips and the rum just as he took the first sip. He coughed violently twice. "Haha, had enough?"

"Yeah, I'm done." He said with a hoarse whimper as he gave it to Mike.

"Lee, why don't you see if you can get Jane and Kenny to come over by the fire. It's too cold for them to be out there." Bonnie proposed, taking the rum away from Mike and offering it to Lee, so he could blackmail the others into coming to the campfire. "Oh, and here, maybe a swig of this will change their minds." She concluded, before departing to again sit in her usual spot.

**A/N: Again, guys, sorry for making such a small chapter, but now that vacation is over, I don't have as much time to write. Hope you have enjoyed this chapter as I enjoyed writing it, I just find it so cool to imagine the Season 2 characters and the Season 1's sitting around a fire, sharing a good moment. See ya next time!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Dead Men Drowning

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 4 – Dead Men Drowning

**A/N: Hi everyone, just liked to start with a real quick author's note. I simply wanted to thank you guys so much! If we combine Camp Carver's, Parker's Run and Town Across The River's reviews, we get a total of 64 reviews! That's a big number that I never thought I'd reach. A great thanks to all those who took the time to give me some feedback! With no further ado, enjoy the chapter.**

Lee marched towards Jane. She instantly reacted and spun her head as he drew nearer. Lee pulled out the bottle of rum and showed it to Jane.

"They expect you to lure me over there with alcohol?" Jane guessed, returning to her initial position to look beyond the metal fence.

"Will it work?" Lee asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It depends." She said, facing Lee. "What is it?"

"Rum." He quickly replied, keeping his eyes on Jane.

"Nice. Never expected for a bottle to last this long." Jane confessed, grabbing the bottle that had the logo of an army general on it. She was right though; when everything had started, people reached for the guns and for the booze, instead of grabbing supplies that were actually good to ensure your survival. She grabbed the bottle with both hands. "I don't know, it might be awkward."

"Eh, it might be. But only if you make weird. Just hand out. Let's just chill for the night." Lee assured, hoping to convince her. He wanted the group to be together. They were all disagreeing with each other as it was.

"I wish it was that easy." She chuckled.

"It is. People just like making it harder that it has to be." Lee repeated under a mutter.

"It feels like I'm signing a contract or something." She said before savoring a mighty sip. "That's good. Want some?"

Lee wasn't the one to imbibe, especially during the apocalypse but he figured that tonight was a special occasion. "Yeah." He said as he took the bottle and quaffed slowly, enjoying each bit of flaming alcohol. He then granted the booze back to Jane, who relished another fiery chug. "A deal's a deal. Give Kenny some, he definitely needs some too." She said as she gave the rum back to Lee and paced toward the bonfire.

When she arrived, everybody looked at her in a stare, trying to make feel welcome, although that awkward tension was palpable.

"Wanna sit here?" Bonnie offered her seat as she stood up.

"No, I'm fine." Jane declined. She circled around the fire and clustered into a ball next to Mike.

Lee stepped the snow until he was close to Kenny. He was sitting against the big transformer, posted up in the big hole in the fence just like he had told the group. He slumped beside him and took another good sip from the rum. Geez, it'd been so long ever since he had relaxed like today. And it felt great.

"Hey, lil' guy. C'mon, ssh, ssh." Kenny whispered to the baby. "Hey Lee. Look, man, I'm sorry. For how I acted when Katjaa...I…I couldn't handle it."

"Water under the bridge." Lee mindlessly said while gazing into the icy forest. Just like he said, they were two assholes together.

"I miss my boy. I miss him so much. " He rambled, cradling AJ as if it was his own son. "I didn't raise him like I shoulda've. Never was there for 'em. Off on a boat or somewhere. I thought I enjoyed that time away from my family. But now I'd give anythin' in the world for one more second with 'em."

"I hear ya. Let's get back over by the fire." Lee concluded, getting up and wiping off the snow crystals that glued onto his trousers.

"I dunno."

"C'mon. Everybody's celebrating."

Kenny grunted in assertion and got up, being cautious with Alvin Jr. He slowly paced towards the bonfire and sat on his regular place with his legs crossed.

Lee then heard a faint whimper. He turned his head to locate the source of the sound and spotted Arvo chained to the tallest tower in the facility. His body was shaking and his jaw trembled due to the cold, and tears streamed down his face. Lee couldn't let this evil be carried out; they were no barbarians or bandits. Leaving a poor kid to freeze wouldn't make them different from the sick fucks that now roamed the land.

He hurtled towards him. "Hey, you okay?" He softly asked. He didn't respond. Lee kneeled and started untying the knots on the rope that he was tied with.

"What are you doing? Leave me alone…Оставь меня в покое." Arvo wept.

"C'mon, let's get you warm." Lee continued. He finished untying him and removed the restraints from his wrists and stored it in his pocket; they had to make use of everything. He helped the adolescent up and led him towards the bonfire at his speed.

"You better have a good fuckin' explanation to why…" Kenny immediately got ready to argue.

"He was freezing. We couldn't leave him out in the cold." Lee explained. Kenny didn't insist no further, he knew he wouldn't win this one.

"Yeah, let him in." Mike agreed with a sorrowful face.

Arvo chose to seat next to Lee and Clementine. "Благодаря." He incomprehensibly blurted out.

Now this was perfect. Everyone was gathered around a cozy, warm fireplace, sharing a good moment.

"We should probably get some rest. Who knows how long a walk we got tomorrow." Bonnie proposed.

"I'll take first watch." Kenny forthwith volunteered, getting up to go post up near his usual spot.

"Thanks, Kenny. For real." Bonnie thanked.

"I, uh…don't mention it." He concluded before disappearing behind the transformer.

Well, it was good as it lasted.

OOO

Next day, same convoy, same erratic marching through the woods, Arvo was again restrained with some rope and Kenny was pointing a gun at him. Mike was now toting the baby. Carlos was in mourning. Ben trying to be useful. The usual.

"How much further?!" Kenny impatiently asked.

"Close. Very close." Arvo briefly said, seeming as if he was deeply focused on something.

"You been sayin' that every time I ask." Kenny alleged, as Arvo was pissing him off.

"Please. Come." Arvo simply said.

The group passed right by a big rock. What they didn't notice was that a walker was slumped against it. Once it caught the scent of human flesh, it jerked its body and got up, ready to chomp Kenny.

"Kenny, watch out!" Lee screamed, but the redneck didn't pay attention to him. Lee saw no other choice. He pulled out his Glock and aligned the walker's head with his gun's aim notch. He pressed the trigger.

The bullet went clean in and out through the zombie's head just before it reached Kenny. Its blood and brains were splattered all over the snow, and its body fell motionlessly on the ground.

"What the fuck?!" Kenny sputtered, only now figuring out what had happened. "Fucker came outta nowhere!"

"Jesus, that was close!" Ben panicked, knowing that that gunshot would attract a herd of lurkers in their direction.

"That was real loud." Bonnie affirmed. "Hopefully there aren't more of 'em."

"Yeah, well, let's move. We don't want to be around to find out." Jane flatly declared, already starting to walk towards what could be Arvo's house.

"Hey, everybody alright?!" Nick demanded, slightly nervous.

"Yeah…just a walker that crept up on us." Lee explained, reloading an extra bullet to his gun.

"Is very close. Come." Arvo said, with no emotion and no concern that Kenny almost got eaten.

They continued to walk until they came across a clearing that had less trees and bushes. Arvo gazed the horizon. "There." He indicated, gesturing with his head.

"That piece of shit?!" Kenny cursed, seeing what Arvo was gesturing at. A small two-story cottage, although it looked warm and cozy, it was half-built. Construction probably stopped after the dead started roaming and eating the living. "It's half-built!"

"We're here for the supplies." Jane recalled the group, narrowing her eyes to get a better look at the house.

"It's better than nothing. It seems secure, at least." Nick alleged, walking up to the front of their small human convoy.

"Is there any way to get there? It'd be bad if we had to cross this lake." Lee elaborated. Everyone looked at what laid between them and the house: a frozen lake. Which was bound to break under the weight of them all and if they fell in they'd either drown or freeze to death.

"Should've stuck with the treeline." Jane professed, searching for other safe routes.

"The fastest way between two things…is the straightest one, right?" Kenny said, trying to remember the little knowledge he had on math.

"It ain't too far, just be on the lookout." Bonnie assured, as the survivors approached nearer to the lake. "There might be a way around."

"I don't see any." Luke contradicted, turning his head back and forth.

"Мы можем пойти. Лед сильна." Arvo asserted, facing the group.

"Say it in American, asshole!" Kenny ordered, jabbing his gun at Arvo.

"Is okay. Walk. Ice." Arvo translated.

"We can go real slow." Lee announced. "No sudden moves and we might be fine."

"Yeah, Lee's right." Jane agreed. "Spread out, less weight the better."

"Let the Ruskie go first. Since he's so confident." Kenny grunted in despise.

"Is okay." Arvo bravely asserted as he took his first step on the lake.

Kenny slowly followed him. Nick escorted Carlos up ahead. The others lagged behind them, taking some distance between them to balance the ice like a scale.

Lee started gradually trekking on the thin ice. Clementine this time willingly was near him, she probably was scared. He flinched and his whole body was rushed with fear as he heard some gentle creaks.

"Lee….!" Clementine hysterically called out. Lee twitched his head and spotted as a small crack appeared beneath Clem's foot.

"It's okay. Just walk calmly and don't run." Lee soothed, and he nodded in reply.

Then Lee distinguished a distinct sound. The sound of roaring, moaning and groaning. _Oh shit…_

He looked past his shoulder and his predictions were correct. A disperse horde of lurkers were shambling towards them. They could be fine, but their accumulated weight would probably break the ice.

"Uh, guys, we got some walkers on our tail!" Lee adverted. Luke hurried his pace, since he was the one that was the farthest back.

"They ain't many!" Mike shouted, hoping to calm the situation. "We may be fine!"

Just then two walkers, both of them females and probably pretty before reanimating, fell inside the water as the solid water below them cracked in millions of pieces. They barely reacted to it, and after they fell in they weren't seen again.

"Well, that's two less to deal with." Jane saw it on the bright side, although the others were really nervous. Walkers didn't drown since they didn't need oxygen, but they didn't swim either, so they could suppose that they'd never see those lurkers again.

Arvo took the chance, and while everybody was distracted he made a mad dash for it, running as fast as he could with his leg brace. "Hey!" Kenny screamed as he ran and chased him down.

"Kenny, DON'T RUN!" Lee howled, but he didn't stop.

"Fuck, he's gonna kill him!" Mike screeched and he too sprinted in their direction.

Unfortunately, the ice that was stepped by Arvo once he was almost to the other side gave in, causing him to fall in the lake. He managed to hold onto the remaining ice, but he was stuck in there. Kenny grinned to see that he'd caught his prey. He violently seized him by the neck and threw him on the snow when they got on firm land.

Well, Kenny and Mike had made it. Nick and Carlos managed to reach the other side a couple seconds after they did, and Ben went in last. Now all they could do was witness as their friends desperately tried to reach them.

"Well, they made it." Jane stated the obvious, as she continued to walk.

Lee froze as he heard a large portion of ice crack. He took a 180º turn and regarded horrified as Luke was on the middle of a gigantic piece of ice that was just about ready to give in.

"It's okay! I'm fine!" Luke said, as he noticed his friends' preoccupation.

"Fuck, shit!" Lee profaned, thinking on what to do. "Clementine, go on ahead, follow Jane." He gently beseeched, and she complied.

"Oh my God!" Bonnie awed in terror. "Luke, hang on tight! I'm coming to…"

"NO! I'm fine alright, just gotta…" He was cut off was he took a second step, but the ice broke and his leg became dug in the cold water. Lee and Bonnie ran to help him. "No, stop! The ice will give in!"

"But…!"

"Look, just cover them walkers off me!" Luke insisted, getting a bit frustrated. "I can pull my leg out! I just need time!"

"Bonnie, do as he says!" Lee firmly instructed. Bonnie had a mad will to help her friend, and even though she didn't know it, it wasn't a good call. But Lee convinced her.

"Okay, okay." Bonnie sighed.

Lee aimed at the first walker he saw. He fired but the bullet missed it, yet the second round he hit square on its face. He and Bonnie kept shooting, wishing that they could buy Luke some time, as he seemed struggling to get out his leg.

Lee gulped as his pistol didn't fire; it just gave a small 'clic'. He reached for his pocket and pulled out another clip, although this one only had two more bullets. "Luke, you gotta hurry! I'm almost out!"

"I'm…I'm getting to it!" He nervously proclaimed.

"Dammit Luke. Let me help you…" Bonnie said as she started walking whilst crouched toward Luke, she didn't have any other choice.

"Please, don't!" He shouted, waving his palm in front of her to prevent her from continuing.

But it was no good. The ice finally gave in and they both sunk in. "Luke! Bonnie!" Lee screamed, as he put away his Glock and ran towards the crater of water in which they had fallen through. Through the dense water, he couldn't spot them. On the other side, the rest of the survivors were shouting unintelligible words.

The adrenaline pumped through Lee's veins, and he stopped thinking straight. He took a long, deep breath and dived inside the lake.

His body was immediately met with shock, which would lead to hypothermia if he didn't leave soon. His body felt wrapped in a huge bag of ice. He painfully opened his eyes and started looking for Luke and Bonnie.

He yelped in fear when a walker gripped his ankle. He kicked it like it was slow-mo due to the density of the water until it broke free. Then another lurker almost got a bite of him, but Luke came to aid him and grabbed it from behind.

Luke pushed him downwards and essayed hardly to go back to surface, but the walked grabbed his foot and was starting to pull him down to his demise. Lee didn't think straight, he picked up his gun and passed it onto Luke. He aimed the Glock towards the zombie's skull and shot it. The last thing Lee saw was a bright flash, before losing consciousness.

**A/N: MUAHAHA, cliffhanger! So, what do you think? Is Luke dead, is Lee alive, etc.? Tell me your predictions as I'm really curious to hear them! See ya guys in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Warmth

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 5 – Warmth

Lee's vision came back but blurry. His hearing was deafened by the water pressure, trying to squeeze his skull. The cold soaked in his clothing and he felt like he was in a tub of ice. He managed to open his eyes slightly, and his body senses managed to detect that he was being pulled upwards, and he thought he'd seen blood in the water. And Lee had realize that his oxygen supply was about to dry out soon.

Just as he placed his head out of the water, he started panting heavily, holding onto the remaining ice. He was a bit dizzy, but he was fine, just a little stunned.

"Holy crap!" Jane exclaimed as she crouched and grabbed Lee by his armpits, before pulling him up. He was a bit heavy, but the adrenaline made her able to carry him on top of the ice. "You okay? Hey?"

"Yeah…" Lee said weakly before coughing out some water. He lifted his chest and sat on his ass. The first thing he noticed was how Bonnie was absent from the scene; it didn't take long for Lee to conclude she'd drown. And the worst was that she would likely be doomed to live her life as a walker.

He widened his eyes as he saw Luke on his knees, starting to scream as low as he could from pain; his fingers had been brutally severed and half his hand was missing, and blood was being pumped out of his injury.

"FUCK, fuck, fuck!" Luke cursed, as he got up and made pressure against the wound. Both him and Lee were pale, and they needed a fire otherwise they'd freeze to death.

"Go! To the house, we need a fire!" Jane uttered in urgency, as she helped Luke up, who was grunting to resist the cold.

The trio started running as fast as they could towards the house, Luke trying to keep himself from shouting to avoid getting the walkers' attention. Lee's first priority was to check that Clementine was on the other side, which happened to be true. Jane had her shoulder over Luke to help him, since he was in worse shape.

"How the fuck did that happen?!" Kenny roared, waving his fists in anger.

"Luke? Holy shit!" Nick muttered in horror, seeing his friend's hand mutilated, with Jane helping him walk.

Ben, panicking, could only see that the only way to help his companions was opening the glass doors to the house so they could enter. After he did so, everybody erupted inside the small cottage.

Inside, there wasn't much furniture. There was a fireplace which was a part of the house itself, a bench built out of cement bricks and a wooden board and a dirty mattress. Besides that, the room was rather empty.

"A fireplace! They're gonna fucking freeze to death!" Jane yelled as she led Luke to sit on the cot, her jacket becoming stained with his blood. Kenny folded his arms and narrowed his eye, feeling guilty for the death of their group member, Bonnie, and the fact that his other friends had a really close call. Arvo was in the corner, his face showing a deep despise, but inside he felt glad that those Americans had been taught a lesson.

"She's gone." Mike mourned their loss, latching onto his head with his hands. "Bonnie's just fuckin' gone…" He rambled as he paced towards a small wooden crate, checked that it was comfortable and then placed the baby inside.

"Lee, are you okay?" Clementine enquired in worry. She was angry at her mentor, but she didn't wish his death.

"I-I-I'm f-f-fin-n-e." He stuttered, being unable to talk coherently. He didn't have anyone to help him, so he was forced to drag himself towards the bench and wait for someone to light a fire.

"Carlos…please, you gotta do somethin' for Luke!" Nick pleaded. He gazed Carlos, who had a frown stamped on his face, but seemed focused on something inexistent. Luke was lying on the mattress, staring at the ceiling and groaning in pain, as Jane took her coat off and wrapped it around his wound. The yellow fabric became red from the gore.

Carlos shook his head. He was in shock and in mourning; he felt sad, depressed, and didn't felt a single reason to live or to do anything at all. Everything he held dear was gone. What was the point? But he knew that his wife and his daughter would want him to keep on keeping on and to take care of his friends. "Get me medical supplies." He said after days of being quiet.

"Okay, anybody got anything?" Nick inquired in a startled way, but no-one replied because nobody had anything.

"Go check the house!" Jane ordered in alarm as she gathered materials that would burn in the fireplace to light a fire. "Arvo said he had supplies."

"On it!" Nick sputtered as he disappeared to look for medical stuff.

"I'll help you." Ben added, following right on Nick's tail.

Carlos approached Luke and kneeled beside him. "It's gonna be okay." He assured flatly, with no emotion, pressuring with his hands the wound with Jane's clothing. Luke screeched as he felt his nerves being tinkered with.

"You son of a bitch!" Kenny insulted the Russian as his sadness and guilt was transformed into rage. He strolled angrily towards Arvo and stopped right in his face. "This is your fuckin' fault!"

"Kenny. DON'T, man." Mike warned him, as he prepared to get between the two if necessary.

"St-top argu-u-uing." Lee begged, wrapping his arms around his chest to warm himself up. "G-get a f-i-ire s-tart-ted."

Kenny looked at his friend over his shoulder, but he just had to keep discussing with Arvo. "Look at this fuckin' place." He continued, turning his head upwards to regard the ceiling. "Just a stack of buncha toothpicks. Bet those magical 'supplies' are bullshit too!" He commented as he pushed Arvo a little bit. "What?! No speaka da English?!"

"Fuck you." Arvo bravely told Kenny, raising his head. Lee, knowing where this was going, got up and tried to run to stop him. He managed to jump right in front of Kenny, but got hit in the face by a punch of his. Lee grunted as a tiny cut opened in his cheek, and Kenny enlarged his eyelids, seeing what he'd done.

"Jus-st st-top, Ken-n-ny! You're fr-r-ri-i-ghte-eni-ing every-y-body!" Lee confessed, as he put a hand in front of him. Kenny kept his head down, now feeling ashamed of his actions.

Nick and Ben both emerged from the hallway they previously had gone in to. Nick was carrying a sports bag which appeared to be filled with supplies, and Ben had a second bag just like the other one, and carried some planks under his arm. "We found the supplies you mentioned." Nick told her, as he opened the pack and rummaged through it, until he discovered a first aid kit. "Here ya go." He uttered, passing the medical supplies to the doctor. Carlos opened it, and took some bandages and anti-septic to take care of Luke's wound.

"I got some firewood too." Ben announced.

"Good job, guys. Throw it in the fireplace." She ordered. Ben smiled mentally; he finally had helped the group in something.

"How is a can of chili," Kenny ranted, picking up a can of food from the two bags Nick and Ben had brought. "Gonna help a baby?"

"How is beating people up gonna help anyone?!" Jane replied with a feisty look, bending down to light the wood Ben had brought. The ambience was now quieter, except for Kenny getting pissed from time to time and Luke's low screams as Carlos operated him.

"I'm tyin' him up." Kenny declared, not knowing what else to say. He seized Arvo and set his restraints around the stairs that led to the unfinished second floor so he wouldn't be able to move.

"Fine." Jane responded coldly. "Mike, help me get a fire started."

Mike obeyed and he kneeled next to Jane. "Ya gotta light?" He asked, since he had none.

"I thought I had matches." She said, as he tapped her jeans' pockets, but didn't find them. Lee limped towards Jane and handed her the nail file. "You kept it." She acknowledged with a smile, and Lee nodded back.

Jane struck the nail file as hard as she could with a rock she had found nearby. After the third strike, a spark fell upon the firewood and the fireplace was lit. Everyone sat against the wall, enjoying the soothing warm temperature. Lee leaned against the incomplete plywood wall, and before he knew it, he drifted off into a slumber.

…

Lee opened softly his eyes. He sat straightly against the wall, and noted Clementine looking at him, who was standing up. Ben and Nick were feasting on some canned fruit. Mike was nowhere to be seen. Lee spotted Luke, who gave the impression of being asleep, plus he was surrounded by Carlos and Jane. Carlos got up and walked toward the staircase.

"Where you going?" Lee asked him. He was afraid to leave Carlos alone; he knew Sarah used to be everything for him, and he remembered how Katjaa had blown her brains out when her son died. He didn't want Carlos doing the same.

"I'm going upstairs." Carlos admitted, whilst he continued to climb up without stopping. "I don't wish to be bothered, okay?" Lee didn't answer; he had no right to deprive Carlos from what he wanted. He just hoped he wouldn't do some stupidity.

"Lee?" Clementine called out.

"Hi, sweet pea." Lee greeted, noticing his skin tone coming back and the cold being replaced by a cozy warmness. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She said as she sat near Lee.

"Where's Kenny?" Lee demanded. He wanted to keep an eye on him, since he'd often have anger outbursts.

"He's out back, fixing a truck. Here, have some." She said as she passed him a can of chili.

"Thanks." He thanked as he got up.

"Good to see you're up on your feet." Nick told him, as Lee passed by him.

"I appreciate the concern." He thanked. It was good to know that he was with people who cared about him, and had his back protected.

He walked towards Arvo, to check if he was fine from the events of before. "I'm here to check all's okay." He asserted, as he lowered his body to his height.

"Thank you, Mr. Lee." Arvo told him weakly. Lee, feeling pitiful for him, gave him the can of chili along with a spoon. It was hard for him to eat the way he was tied, but it didn't stop him from digging into his food. "Thank you very much, Lee."

"Feelin' better?" Kenny quizzed as he entered the room.

"Just fine, thanks." Lee replied in a smooth tone, to try to instigate a friendly environment.

"Look, I'm, uh…sorry about the punch." Kenny excused himself. "But I could use a hand out with the truck."

"Gimme a minute." Lee ordered, as he stood in his usual posture. "I'll meet you out back." Kenny agreed with a nod before exiting out back. Lee looked at AJ, who was resting in the crate. Someone had the caution to put some paper towels on the box to make it more comfortable for it.

"I'll keep an eye on them." Jane volunteered like she'd read Lee's mind.

"Think you can handle the two of them?" Lee joked, referring to AJ and Luke.

"I'll try." She smirked, but her smile vanished a while after. "I can't believe he almost died today. I-I almost lost him." She trailed off with a tremble voice, avoiding a tear.

"You should tell him how you feel once he wakes up." Lee shared what he thought was better, as he approached Jane.

"I don't know." Jane contradicted with an annoyed face. "I really ain't that good at that type of things."

"I think it's best that you'd do it anyways." Lee insisted. "There are many things I wanted to say to people I cared about, but I never really got the chance. Don't destroy the opportunity you have." He said like a wise man. Jane lowered her head, as if in to think about.

Seeing his job was done, he headed towards the back of the house to help Kenny. He noticed as Clementine rejoined him, and perhaps she wouldn't be angry at him until the end of times.

**A/N: Here is the fifth chapter, ladies and gents! I think this was the hardest chapter to write up until now, because at the beginning I had to add so many things so the readers would know what each character was doing, and so many things happening at the same time. Feel free to drop a review so I can know you're enjoying this story, and I'll see you in the next chapter! And yes, indeed I changed the cover because the image was cool.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Stranger Danger

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 6 – Stranger Danger

**A/N: Here's chapter 6, hope you guys enjoy it! However, the end nears us, my friends. I'm curious to know, how do you think this fanfic will end? Tell me your predictions because I'm eager to know them!**

Lee and Clementine didn't exchange a word on their small stroll towards the truck Kenny was fixing. To be honest, he didn't know what to say to her, and neither did she. Once they stepped outside, they came upon an area with bulldozers and lots of boxes stacked, and around there was a forest whose trees were covered in snow. It seemed like Christmas time, and it probably was; too bad they couldn't find the time to celebrate.

Kenny unfolded his arms and turned around, seeing Lee and Clem were there. He didn't have to point it out; Lee immediately saw the red truck Kenny allegedly had been trying to fix. "What'd she have to say?" Kenny curiously asked, as the trio continued pacing toward the vehicle. "I know she was runnin' her mouth!"

"You almost beat the shit out of a teenager today, Kenny!" Lee remarked, and Kenny twitched his face.

"So? We were under circumstances…" Kenny tried to explain his actions.

"People are getting scared, Ken." Lee cut him off, and Kenny donned an expression like he had no idea what the urban was talking about. "And I don't want our group to fall apart. Not now. Not with how far we've gotten."

"Look, man, I know." Kenny said in a pitiful tone. "Y'know I ain't like that. It's just…I want this group to stick together. For AJ. Let's see if the truck's gonna go." He said as they arrived at the truck. Kenny tossed the keys at Lee, opened widely the hood and pulled out a screwdriver from his pocket.

"Can I turn the truck on?" Clementine demanded, making both of the grown-ups look at her. She had an enthusiastic face.

"Of course, sweet pea." Lee chuckled, as he dropped the keys on her hand. She opened the door and hurtled inside the driver's seat and searched for the ignition. "It's under the steering wheel." Lee indicated.

"Ah!" She awed as she located the ignition.

"My daddy always had a half dozen wrecks he was fixin' up." Kenny told the two other people like a grandpa telling a story to his grandchildren. "He was a mean son of…a mean guy." Kenny corrected his language for the little girl. "But he taught me some respect. Girl like Jane could learn a thing or two about that." Kenny gawked at Lee, who joined him on inspecting the engine.

"We're all just…tired." He said with a sigh, and the air coming out of his mouth became vapor once in contact with the cold temperature.

"Hell, I guess we all are." He agreed, in a more understandable way. He used his wrench and the screwdriver to tighten some mechanisms, before he concluded that it was all done. "Alright, give it a go." Kenny instructed gently. Clementine turned viciously the key, but there wasn't a single sound.

"Did I do something wrong?" Clementine asked, not wanting for Kenny to get mad because she made a mistake.

"No sweet pea. It just isn't ready yet." Lee explained.

"We're so close Lee. With a little bit of luck, I can get this thing runnin', and we can really make some distance."

"But where off to? We really hadn't thought about a plan." Lee questioned his friend. It was a good idea to know where they were going; they didn't want to spend the rest of their lives roaming with no destination like the walkers.

"Dunno." Kenny replied flatly, as he kept on tuning the various tubes and mechanical parts of the engine. "Heard some of them guards back at Howe's squabblin' about this place called Wellington. I think it's like a safe heaven up North."

"Seems like a long shot." Lee commented, as he knew that back when this started, everyone was talking about refugee camps around Atlanta, but they were all overrun or simply didn't exist.

"Yeah, well, it's better than nothin'." Kenny said, keeping focused on the task at hand.

"What about Mexico?" Clementine added, getting the idea from a Mexico postcard that was placed on the dashboard.

"Why? Wanna a taco?" Kenny chuckled at her response.

"I've never been there." She admitted.

"I went there once, long time ago. Just before I met Kat." Kenny told, before realizing that he couldn't be thinking about his dead family now. He had to be concentrated. "All right, turn it again." Clementine did as asked, but again there was no reaction. "Did you turn it?!" He demanded harshly.

"Yes!" She said, slightly frightened.

"Goddammit!" Kenny shouted, kicking the vehicle in frustrating, making it wobble. Clementine got up and ran up to her mentor, in case Kenny went on a rampage.

"Kenny! Calm down!" Lee ordered, as he noticed Clementine scared, right behind him. "You're scaring her."

Kenny turned around and shifted his attention to the snowy forest around them. He set his hands in his hips and sighed in frustration. "We gotta get movin' if we wanna keep AJ alive. We're runnin' outta time." He spin around and regarded the truck. "I gotta get this thing to start!" He said with conviction. "I'll try warmin' up the battery." He told the group in a calmer tone. "Y'all run on inside now. I don't like leavin' him with that girl." He said before resuming his task. Lee glared him one last time before he and Clem started walking towards the house.

"Lee? Why is Kenny acting this way?" Clementine whispered to her guardian, so he wouldn't hear.

"Kenny…Kenny's been through a lot, sweetie. That makes people sad. And sometimes sad people get angry." Lee told her honestly, not making eye contact with her.

"Oh." Clementine asserted, before lowering her head.

The duo climbed the four steps leading to the unfinished cottage. Lee opened the door and allowed Clem to enter, before he entered himself.

…

Inside, the silence was so crushing that it even became slightly creepy and eerie. The walls were enlighten by some candles someone had lit. Lee saw Mike talking to Arvo, before he heard a delicate cry coming from the room to his right. He stepped inside and spotted the baby laying on the crate, whilst Jane was sitting on the closed window.

"Hey." She greeted lowly. Clementine walked away to do something, only leaving Lee and Jane in the room.

"How's Luke doing?" Lee asked, as he paced towards hear and sat in the space across her. He gazed down and verified that the baby was comfortable.

"He's kinda awake, but he seemed tired." Jane elaborated. "I thought it'd be best to let him rest."

Lee and Jane heard a muffled voice screaming ''Goddammit". They looked outside and noticed Kenny spitting words, punching the truck. "I've seen that look before." Jane declared with no emotion.

"Look, just…what're you hinting at?" Lee inquired with an worried frown.

"I know Kenny's a nice guy, Lee." Jane confessed. "I bet Carver was a nice guy too, once. Had a nice job, and a nice, pretty wife. Then all of this happened. And one day, he realized he could beat a kid's face in and sleep at night."

"I know Kenny's reckless, but if he does go that far…" Lee conveyed, concerned about his mustached friend. "Then what do you propose as a solution?"

Jane looked around the room without responding, but Lee knew what she was thinking: a bullet to the brain. "You two have known each other for some time now. In the end, you're gonna have to decide how much that's worth."

The two of them were surprised once the baby started crying. Jane, who wasn't good with babies or kids in general, raised her eyebrows in worry, idealess on what to do. "I think it needs food, or something." She observed. Lee stood up and cradled it in his arms. AJ was soothed quite quickly, and went back to being calm. "Seems like you've done that before." Jane opinionated with a smile.

"Always wanted to have kids of my own, but…" Lee trailed off. "Never actually had one."

"Well, I'm sure you would've been a great dad." Jane spoke her mind. Lee decided that it was probably best to feed it, so he grabbed the bottle specially designed for babies.

"There's not much left." Lee grimaced when he saw that there wasn't much left.

"I was running with some people long time ago, down near DC." She revealed, as Lee sat down and tried to nurse the baby to the best of his abilities. "Some guy got trapped in the middle of a crosswalk. Can't remember his name. He used to call me Mary Jane. A real douchebag." She continued, whilst outside Kenny was installing himself on the driver's seat of the truck. "Anyway, the dick got stuck under a car trying to hide from a dozen walkers. One after another, they went down there to try to save him. Lost four people before we got him out. Didn't find out he was bit until later. Ripped out the neck of this old lady. The look on her face, just…staring at the sky…like she was watching a bird."

Lee set down the baby on his resting spot, not being able but to feel sad about Jane's story. Suddenly, he heard something he never thought he'd hear: an engine running. He looked out the window, and saw Mike, Nick and Ben sprinting outside to check on Kenny's work.

"He got the truck working!" Lee exclaimed, as he hurried outside.

"It works?!" Ben enquired, feeling excited now that they had a functional vehicle. Lee emerged from the house, and he too couldn't believe Kenny had done it.

"I told y'all, didn't I?" Kenny remarked with a smile, whilst sitting on the driver's seat.

"So…what's the plan?" Mike interrogated himself and the group, which was gathered around the truck; with a few exceptions of course.

"Let's just get out of the snow." Lee spoke out loud, knowing that they wouldn't last long with this cold.

"We should head back South." Jane voiced her opinion, folding her arms.

"What?" Kenny quizzed with a shocked tone of voice.

"I don't know who had the stupid idea to march up here out on the cold, but it was bad one." Jane contradicted Kenny's plan, arching her eyebrows in despise.

"She's right." Mike backed her up.

"Now hold on a minute." Kenny stopped the group members, wanting to get a say in. "I heard about this place called Wellington up North, okay? If we get there, we might be able to be out of all this madness!"

"I don't know. Is it really a good idea to go on a ghost hunt?" Nick came forward, knowing that the rumors Kenny had heard were probably bullshit.

"We could go back to Howe's." Jane claimed. It was a good idea; there was probably still lots of food, lots of building material, and with some work they could be able to barricade it and make a living.

"Wait, what?" Mike intervened. "Fuck that. I was thinkin' more like Texas."

"What the fuck?!" Kenny sputtered into the air.

"It was just an idea." Mike spat, getting pissed that Kenny only wanted to do things his way.

"We're going to Wellington! Right, Lee?" Kenny demanded for some support from his friend, but Lee wasn't sure if he could help him on this one.

"Wellington?" Jane interfered, knowing that he was delusional. "What're the odds it even exists?"

"Kenny, it's freezing up here." Mike said in a smooth tone, to try and convince him.

"We don't have to leave yet." Lee uttered loudly so everyone would hear. And as always, he tried to stay neutral. "Let's just sleep on it."

"That sounds sensible." Nick agreed, scratching the back of his head.

"Dammit! We're runnin' outta time!" Kenny informed, becoming angrier seeing his back was against the wall.

"Pfft, says you." Jane told him, not fearing the redneck.

"Look, I don't give two shits about what you people think." He confessed, crossing his arms tightly. "I got this truck runnin', so I say where we go, and we're heading fuckin' North. It's the best chance we got of helpin' AJ."

"What about Arvo?" Mike demanded. He didn't want to leave Arvo to his luck, he wouldn't make it on his condition.

"Who? Oh, the Russkie?! Oh, he ain't comin' with us!" Kenny admitted. "We'll be barely be able to fit all of us in this truck, and we can't spare a place for him."

"We should ask him what he wants." Lee said what he thought best. Kenny glanced at him, but Lee didn't feel intimidated by him, not even a bit.

"He knows the area. He can help us." Mike tried to persuade him, with a concerned look stamped on his face.

"Oh yeah, some help's he's been. He got Bonnie killed, and almost took Lee and Luke down with him!" Kenny argued back.

"I ain't gonna say he helped the situation, but maybe if you'd eased up on him before, wouldn't have run away in the first place. Ever think about that Kenny?!"

"Anyway, I'm not going anywhere in the middle of the night." Jane broke off their argument.

"Neither am I." Nick concurred.

"Yeah, there could be a herd!" Mike adverted, folding his arms.

"You want that child's blood on your hands Mike?!" Kenny inquired in a threatening way.

"You're gonna get us all killed if you don't calm the fuck down, Kenny!"

"Haven't we been through enough for one day?!" Nick voiced in a higher tone, not wanting this argue going the wrong way.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ." Kenny profaned, clenching his fists. "Remember the last time we had a workin' car and sat around on our asses?!"

"I'm going inside." Jane concluded, before departing back into the house. Nick and Ben didn't feel like they were needed here, so they followed her.

"GODDAMMIT!" Kenny thundered, slinging the door wide open with force, throwing his body inside the truck and harshly closing the door.

"You best talk some sense into him. For all our sakes." Mike advised him, before walking back inside the house.

Lee sighed deeply and turned around and stared at Kenny. He walked around the truck, and prepared himself to talk some sense into him.

…

Within the incomplete walls of the two-story mansion, Clementine sat in the room where the baby was resting inside a crate. She was gazing outside, seeing the multiple group members fighting about where they were going. Clem didn't like seeing the adults arguing; she just wanted everybody to get along, but that never succeeded.

She was surprised when she heard her walkie-talkie sizzle. She seized and looked at it; the radio Lee had given her wasn't the one Carver had used to beat his orbital in, apparently it was one in good condition. Lee probably had gotten one before they left Camp Carver.

"_H-H…Hell…_" A distorted voice spoke through it.

"Hello?" Clementine greeted back. There was more sizzling, before the voice spoke again.

"_Hello, Clementine._" The voice now could be perfectly understood, and there was no more sizzling. Clem identified it to come from a man.

"Hello?! Who are you?" Clem demanded eagerly, verifying that nobody was eavesdropping on her.

"_My name is not important Clementine. I have some important to tell you._" The man told her.

"What is it?!"

"_I got your parents right here, Clementine. They're real looking forward to seeing you._"

"My dad and mom are there?!" Clem enquired happily. This was too good to be true, but it was! However with her young age she couldn't realize that this man probably wasn't a good person.

"_Yes, Clementine. Do you want to see them?_" He interrogated with a flat voice, predicting that the little girl would say yes.

"Yeah, of course!" She said somewhat to loud, before speaking in a lower tone.

"_Then do as I say. First of all, I need you to tell me where you are._"

"I'm…I'm in a house."

"_Do you know anything specific or special or distinct about that house?_"

"It's, uh…it's not entirely built."

"_Oh yes! I think I know where you are. Good. Now listen to me, Clem. Once everyone goes to sleep, come outside and I'll meet you, okay?_"

"Yeah…okay. But I don't know. Won't my group be mad?"

"_Now, now. Don't worry about Lee, hon._" Clem felt slightly intrigued about how he knew Lee, but she didn't question him. "_I got it all figured out._"

"Okay. But how do I call you?" She asked, feeling so joyous that she just felt like jumping and running.

"_You can call me…the Stranger._"


	7. Chapter 7 - Born To Die

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 7 – Born To Die

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I've been really busy! But here's the chapter and I hope you'll enjoy it. The next chapter will probably be the last one, but there might be an extra one depending on the length. I also changed the summary of this fanfic into a more badass one. I won't stall you guys anymore, enjoy!**

Lee gazed at Clementine as she followed the group inside. She turned her head and gaped at Lee before entering back inside. Lee sighed and paced around the truck to seat in the passenger's seat, next to Kenny. Through the windows, he perceived Kenny punching the steering wheel and shouting barbarities. And only now Lee had realized how cold he was. He probably should have worn something else besides his plain, blue shirt. And he felt an annoying numbness on the part of his skull beyond his eyepatch from the cold.

Lee pulled the handle of the right door of the vehicle, triggering it to open. Kenny waved his arm blindly as he heard it opening. "Get the fuck outta here!" He ordered between teeth.

"It's me." Lee coldly said, as he scooted in the seat and closed the door.

"Lee? Oh, it's you." Kenny acknowledged, easing up since it was his long-time urban friend standing there. "What the fuck was that back there?!" He angrily demanded, twisting his body to look at Lee. "I bring 'em a workin' truck and they act like I shit in their cereal! I knew Jane'd have to stick up her ass, but I thought Mike'd at least have more sense. He's turned out to be a real disappointment." He commented as he shook his head.

"Kenny, I told you, you're scaring people." Lee stated, facing him with the truth that couldn't get through his thick skull.

"Well if their big plan is to wander around through the woods, they oughta be scared of more than me." Kenny contradicted, raising his voice.

"Maybe, but you can't force people into your plans!" Lee riposted, elevating his tone just like Kenny's.

"Look, Lee…" Kenny lowered his voice, hoping to win this argument peacefully. "We got maybe a few days' worth of food for that kid left…that's it."

"But Kenny…we have to consider if Wellington is a real place or not…we can't go out on a ghost hunt." Lee reasoned with him.

"Yeah, but sittin' here ain't helpin' us find a safe place for AJ!" Kenny responded with a long sigh, as he leaned against the door. "I know you know that we have to do everything for this kid."

"I know, but this ain't helping." Lee asserted, trying to come to terms with the redneck.

"I'm aware that Wellington might be bullshit," Kenny admitted. "But we have to take a chance. We can't spend the rest of our lives trekking in the woods like a buncha cavemen! We can make it just the four of us, Lee. You, me , Clem and AJ."

"What?!" Lee uttered, not believing that Kenny was willing to abandon the group. "No way. We have to stick together."

"I'd like to, man, but they all have their minds made up." Kenny replied, reclining on his seat. "Plus, have you seen the size of this truck? How we gonna fit all of us in here?" Kenny added. He was right though; there was only enough space for five people inside, but with the cold it'd be dangerous to have people sitting on the back of it. "Anyway…we'll figure it out in the morning." He concluded, feeling his forces giving in. "Let's get some sleep." He said before pushing his door open and limping towards the house, whilst clutching onto his body for warmth. Lee imitated him as he followed him.

…

Lee entered the house and glanced at Kenny, who walked into a random room to so he could hit the hay. Lee strolled around the corner and saw Luke sitting on the mattress, stretched out in it like all of his bones were broken, with Jane napping on the improvised bench on the other side of the room.

Lee walked up to Luke and he kneeled to his height. "Hey man. How're you doing?" Lee asked him with concern, wanting to check he was okay.

"Feel like shit." Luke blurted out, squeezing his nose bridge. He was rather pale and sweaty, and he was lying on the cot, staring at the ceiling.

"What happened down there?" Lee enquired, referring to the fingers that Luke was lacking. His hand had been well bandaged, and the bleeding had stopped.

"Geez, man…I think the gun jammed and blew up on my hand." Luke guessed with a feeble and tremble voice. "But I managed to get rid of that lurker."

"I'm sorry, Luke." Lee said with a guilty expression. He was the one that had given Luke the gun; so he was the one who mutilated him.

"Don't say that. Ya saved my life." Luke praised before coughing to finish his sentence.

"Yeah, well…thank you for savin' my life." Lee smirked in a friendly tone.

"No need to thank. We look for each other." Luke modestly uttered, before turning his head around to examine the room. "Where's Carlos?"

"He's upstairs." Lee told him, looking past his shoulder towards the stairs.

"Would ya do me the favor of checkin' up on him?" Luke inquired, looking at Lee. "I don't want him to do any kind of…stupidity. Get me?"

"Yeah, I get you." Lee admitted, standing up. His knee bones cracked a bit. "Sit tight."

Lee spun around and marched towards the stairwell. The stairs creaked under his steps until he finally climbed to the second floor. He stood on a narrow hallway with various doors and in pitch black due to the lack of windows, but the one nearest to him and to his left was the only one who was slightly open. He pushed it open.

He came across with a tall figure facing its back at him. Like the rest of the house, the room was empty, aside from a toolbox and some chairs in the corner. He recognized the silhouette to be Carlos due to the flannel shirt and the dark hair. A window illuminated the room with creepy shadows.

"Carlos?" Lee muttered.

It took some eerie seconds before he could get a response. "Have you ever lost someone…you care about?"

Lee lowered his head. He had lost people, for sure. And it was a bit hard for him to talk about them. He had been trying to not think about them, so it wouldn't bring up bad memories. But their ghosts forever haunted his dreams and were always latched onto his memory.

"Yes." Lee confessed lowly. "My folks…and someone I loved…"

"My condolences. What's the point of continuing…after that?" He asked with some tears leaking from his face.

Lee thought about it for a while. He missed his parents and Carley every day, and he posed himself the same question every day. After some meditating, the answer was obvious to him. "The point's to look after those we care about. Clementine, Luke, Nick, Ben, all of us."

"Yeah…I guess it is…would you mind…leaving?"

"Of course. Take your time." Lee asserted, stepping out of the room. He walked downstairs in order to get some sleep. He surely needed it.

…

Lee woke up amidst the night. His fatigued eyelids only managed to open a little, but it was enough for Lee to glance out the window and notice that it was still night time. The same, dark blue sky watching over him. He knew himself well enough to know that he wasn't going to fall asleep so easily now.

He sat on the floor where he was previously sleeping in. He gazed at the windowsill, where Clementine was sleeping. But then he noticed that the blanket seemed to be empty.

_What the fuck…_, He though, as he got up and paced towards Clem's bed. He gripped the blanket and tossed it across the room. Underneath it was a walkie-talkie and two drawings she drew with the pencil Reggie had given her. In one of them, Bonnie was drawn drowning inside a lake. In the second one, Clem was standing up between two adults.

Lee's heart started panicking. Where the hell could she be?! He stormed out the room, careful not to make too much noise. He inspected the living room; all he could see was Nick and Ben sleeping, and even Jane was a bit cuddled up with Luke whilst they both slumbered in the same cot. Lee decided to check out back.

He opened the back door, but he couldn't believe the images his eyes were transmitting. He saw Arvo bent over the truck, trying to hotwire it. And Mike was standing close to him, holding the two sports bags that they had found the other day.

Lee quickly managed to put two by two, and he crept down the stairs so he wouldn't be seen or heard. He slowly paced toward them, hearing Mike and Arvo whispering, but he couldn't exactly hear what they were saying.

Lee pulled out his gun. He was still a bit confused on what was happening; perhaps Mike had been held at gun point by some Russians. "Mike…?" He enquired. Arvo stood in a normal posture and wielded a Winchester 70 Model rifle like Nick's, and he pointed it at Lee.

Mike gradually turned around with a depressed face. "Lee?" He murmured, as he took a couple steps towards him. But Lee nudged his hand, commanding him to stay put. "Shit."

"What're you doing?!" Lee demanded with an incredulous voice. He couldn't believe that Mike was betraying the whole group.

"We're just leaving." He said, waving his hand to demonstrate that he didn't want to harm Lee. Arvo donned a preoccupied expression across his face and held the gun at waist height; he probably didn't have experience with guns or was just really scared.

"You guys are taking all of the supplies! Think about AJ…you want him to starve?" Lee enquired, knowing that the bring up of the baby could calm down Mike and Arvo.

"Look, man, if you want we'll give you guys some shit, but we gotta get away from that guy."

"You mean Kenny?" Lee quizzed, keeping his gun firmly aimed at Mike and Arvo. The mention of the redneck caused Arvo to look angrier.

"Lee…we just don't have time for this! Just be quiet, okay?" He pleaded as he stepped towards Lee.

"Stop. Don't move." Lee coldly ordered. Mike stopped dead on his tracks.

"What's all the ruckus?" Lee heard someone ask. He turned his head and spotted Carlos standing on the back door with tired eyes. He frowned seeing the scene happening in front of him.

Suddenly, a gun shot rang in the air. Lee's jaw fell and the twisted his head and saw Arvo's gun with smoke coming out of the barrel. The adrenaline took over his body and he began running in the same crippled way he always did and he disappeared inside the forest.

"NO!" Mike screamed, realizing the mistake he had committed. Lee's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose spontaneously. He saw Carlos clutching his chest with his bare hands, and his mighty shirt was stained with blood. His face made it obvious that even he looked like he didn't have a clue of what was going on. He collapsed on the porch and he toppled down the stairs until his body collided with the snow. Some snowflakes were tainted with his blood.

"No! Goddammit, no!" Lee shouted in despair as he forgot about Mike and Arvo and sprinted towards Carlos. He jumped onto his knees once he was next to him and he pressed his hands against the bullet hole in his chest. "Carlos…man…stay with me!" Lee beseeched. He stared non-stop into his eyes. Its fluids were beginning to drain and the glint in them started to vanish. Lee continued putting pressure on his chest, harder this time, as he felt tears bursting onto his face. He spat some blood onto the floor.

"What in the fuck is goin' on out here?!" Kenny thundered out into the yard, followed by the rest of the group. His little brain was dazzled by what he was seeing; Lee putting pressure in Carlos' wound and Mike and Arvo running off into the woods.

"What the…Carlos?!" Nick yelled as he thumped loudly as he ran towards the corpse of his friend. Luke was leaned against the door, watching Carlos' dead body in sadness. Nick lowered his body to Lee's height and placing two fingers on his neck. Nothing.

Everybody was in silence as they saw Lee trying to keep Carlos alive. Jane verified that Luke could walk on his own, before she climbed down the stairs and kneeled near Lee.

"Lee…you did all you could…" She soothed, but Lee kept doing CPR on him, like it was going to help him. "But he's dead now."

"What happened out here?!" Ben hollered as he felt like tearing his hair off.

Lee sat on the snowy ground, panting from the efforts. The only thing he could do was stare at Carlos. His face was pale and his eye balls were gazing into nothingness. Some blood kept spilling out of his chest and it reflected on the transparent ice cubes beneath their feet. Lee's hands were stained with blood and gore.

"I caught Mike and Arvo…" Lee told the group, feeling a lump on his throat and his face was salty from the tears. "…trying to get away with our supplies."

"Those motherfuckers, I knew we couldn't trust them!" Kenny shouted.

"Carlos heard the noise and came out here…but Arvo…shot him…" Lee finished his story. An unnerving silence swept through the group. Nick had his face buried against his hand. Kenny cursing and profaning words. Ben regarding in terror. Jane supporting Lee. Mike and Arvo had disappeared.

"Wait…where's Clementine? She wasn't in the house!" Ben confessed, looking around him. Lee froze in the simple pronunciation of his words. He got up and ran inside. Ben and Luke stepped aside to let him enter.

"Clementine?! CLEMENTINE?!" Lee called out loudly, before he heard an electronic sizzle. He traced the sound back to his room and spotted the radio making its sounds. Lee dashed in its direction and picked it up.

"_Hello Lee._" The voice on the other side greeted.

"Who the fuck is this?! You're the fucker who took Clementine!" Lee roared into the device.

"_Yes…I took her. I had to rescue her from you. And if I were you…I'd choose my next words very carefully…_"

Lee got his brain working. This guy had kidnapped Clementine and he felt a fire burning inside him. He searched inside the best words to tell the asshole speaking on the other side. Until he opened his mouth and prepared to do anything to get back Clementine.

**A/N: "That little girl and I have been through more that you can imagine! Anyone who tries to get between me and her, is gonna wind up dead! You hear me?!". Right now the group has hit the point of no return and there's no going back and there is no time left. The next chapter will be the last one, my friends. A big thanks goes to everyone supporting this fanfic, it's thanks to you guys that I'm engaged in this amazing journey! See y'all in the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8 - Ghosts Of The Past

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 8 – Ghosts Of The Past

**A/N: Here it is, people, the penultimate. A big thanks goes to every and each one of you who has taken the time to read this and give me feedback. Enjoy, and keep an eye out for the last chapter that should be out either tomorrow or after-tomorrow!**

Lee opened his mouth, his lips just barely touching the walkie-talkie. He couldn't express the anger that was developing inside his body. "Who is this?!" He demanded with a loud grunt. His eyes burned with rage and he felt like crushing the gadget he was holding. "Where the hell have you taken her?!"

"_Watch your tone, Lee. Clementine's fine, if that's what you're so upset about._" The Stranger told him in a cold, regular voice. Lee squeezed the radio and turned around, only to see the group gathering by the door: Nick, Luke, Kenny, Ben and Jane, they were all watching Lee speaking to Clem's kidnapper. They all had confused and puzzled expressions stamped on their faces, and nobody dared to pronounce a word.

"What do you want from me?" Lee asked with a smooth tone, hoping to calm down the situation. "Whatever it is, I'll do it and you can let her go." His face changed into a more preoccupied one.

"_I want you to never hurt anybody again._" He replied between teeth, like he was trying to keep his angst bottled up inside him. "_I'm taking her to Wellington, Lee._" Lee broadened his eyelids and the group changed looks among them when the kidnapper mentioned Wellington. They were now confused on whether it was true or not. "_Come after me, don't come after me…it doesn't matter. She's safe now, Lee. And it'd be best for her if you'd just let me get her to safety._" A fizzle was heard coming from the device, indicating that the Stranger wouldn't talk any further.

Lee lowered the radio, drowning in sadness. He strapped it onto his belt and he leaned against the wall whilst pinching his nose bridge, essaying to process the mix of pain and fury within him. He raised his head, the rest of the people standing motionlessly by the door, idealess on what to do. The only thing they could do was stand there like a handful of morons.

"Who…who was that fucker?!" Kenny enquired with worry, brushing past the rest of the group members to be next to Lee.

"I…don't know." Lee admitted with a weak voice, standing in a normal posture and cracking his eyes wide open. "All I know is that asshole has kidnapped Clementine and he's taking her to Wellington. And I have to go get her. "

There's was a brief silence and everyone stood still like statues. They were too baffled to know what to do next. "Nick…let's get…Carlos inside." Luke said, tapping Nick's shoulder to get his attention. Nick shook his head before spinning his body around and following his friend outside. He wiped a couple tears that insisted on leaking from his eyeballs. Their footsteps against the wooden floor echoed through the silent house. Only Lee, Jane, Ben and Kenny were left in the room. Ben gazed the floor and both Kenny and Jane had their arms crossed. They all flinched a bit after their heard a gunshot outside except for Kenny; either Luke or Nick had made sure that Carlos stayed put.

"Look, guys…I need to take the truck." Lee blurted out, but nobody responded. "I know that we all have different ideas about where we should go, but this is the only chance we have of catching up to him." As he finished his sentence, Luke and Nick could be seen pacing down the hallway, Luke holding onto Carlos' ankles and Nick onto his wrists. Lee looked away; he couldn't stare at his dead and blank expression. Sometimes it could be hard to think that so much shit happened in such a short period of time. They heard the sound of a big body of meat falling on the ground and an oppressing silence fell amid them.

"What's the plan? Do we know where that motherfucker's at?" Kenny queried.

Lee sighed from the frustration. "No. I hate to say it, but the only thing we can do is get to Wellington first."

"We should go…show our condolences…" Jane suggested, and everyone nodded in agreement. They strolled in a line towards the living room.

Once they walked in there, a corpse laid in the middle of the room. Carlos was covered with a blanket, which was stained by the blood of the two gun-shot wounds inflicted to him. Nick buried his head in his hand and Luke incredulously peered at the corpse lying in front of him. Jane walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Luke reacted and pulled her in for a hug that she accepted, and he started hiccupping as he sobbed with his face concealed on her shoulder. Lee knew that he didn't have the time to mourn the loss of their friend, but he didn't want to seem like a gigantic scumbag.

The entire group was gathered around the cadaver just as Lee, Kenny and Ben joined the others. "I'd like to say a few words." Nick confessed. He looked up at the group and everybody gave supportive nods. "I didn't know Carlos before all this…I only knew 'im for a couple months…" Nick briefly stopped and liberated a nervous grin. "But I know for sure that he didn't do anything to deserve what happened to him and his family…but he stayed strong…and he helped those around him…" Nick concluded his speech and gulped sadly. "I just hope he's at peace."

"Amen." Kenny said, being the most religious of the group.

A couple minutes had passed ever since Nick and Luke had said their goodbyes to Carlos. They felt terrible for the death of their friend; now they were the only remaining people of the cabin group. It was probably just survivor's guilt, but it was always impossible to get past the loss of a loved one.

"We're…burnin' daylight. We have to go get Clementine." Luke disclosed.

"I appreciate your concern, Luke." Lee conceded lowly, as he pulled out his Glock 17 and checked the clip to count the bullets. "But this is somethin' I have to do alone."

"Hey, now, hold onto yer horses. You're not plannin' on goin' all by yourself, are ya pal?" Kenny announced with a smirk that vanished in a couple of seconds.

"I have to." Lee announced, storing his pistol back into his belt. If he was going to ruin the Stranger's plans, he was probably gonna have to do it using firepower. "I can't risk periling any of you. Clem's my responsibility; I shouldn't drag you guys into it."

"Lee, I can't let you go alone." Jane voiced. She was propped against the wall too, with a foot touching the wall. "I'm coming with you." She volunteered in a sweet tone. Lee was a bit surprised, he knew that Jane cared about the group a lot but he wasn't sure if she would put herself in danger for the others. But now he was proven wrong. "I just can't stay here knowing that some sick fuck's got Clementine."

"She's right, buddy." Nick backed up, scratching the back of his head. "We have to stick together. And I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that I let a little girl get kidnapped."

"I'm going too, Lee." Luke came forward the same time as his friend. "You've been solid since day one. You took care of my own, now it's our turn to repay you. I don't know what I can do, but I'll aid in any way I can."

Lee eyed every single person in that room. He couldn't believe that all those people; some he knew for longer than other; were actually willing to help him. "Thank you guys. I really appreciate it." Lee thanked them, until he noticed that Ben still hadn't spoken. "What about you Ben?" He inquired kindly.

"I…I don't know. Do I have a choice?" He feebly quizzed, folding his arms tightly.

"Of course you do, Ben." Lee declared, trying to not put too much pressure on him.

"You've always been good to me, Lee, even when it wasn't easy to." Ben revealed, although he had an unsure facial expression. "You can count on my help." He added.

"I guess it's settled then." Lee concluded. He whirled around, facing his close friends. "Ready to go?" Everyone positively acknowledged with a nod.

"I'll go get AJ." Nick sputtered. "You guys should get ready. We can't waste any more time."

Nick appeared with Rebecca's son, which Jane offered to tote. The gang hurtled outside and they basically ran towards the truck as they installed themselves in it.

"Here pal." Kenny said as he dumped the keys on Lee's hand. "Bet ya wanna drive."

"Hell yeah I do." He uttered as he received them and installed himself in the driver's seat. Even though his eye sight was lacking, he was pretty capable of driving. He gazed the rearview mirror of the truck just as Kenny closed his door and sat on the passenger seat. On the second row seating behind him were Luke, Ben and Jane, with AJ in her upper limbs. On the back of the truck was Nick, because inside there was no more space. The group was relatively well-armed; Lee had his Glock 17 and an extra AK for any kind of emergencies, Nick had his reliable Winchester rifle, Luke had his machete and an AK-47, Kenny bore a long knife, Ben a Beretta Inox and Jane had her knife and her wits.

Lee started the engine and it roared as it was stimulated. Lee crushed the pedal, not daring to look back. Even if he had to search high and low, came Hell or high water, he was going to find Clementine.

…

Lee just kept driving, not waiting nor slowing down for anything. The trees were clouted in white from the snow and ice and the road was sometimes hard to see due to the fog. Lee was concentrated, fully immersed into the road. Nobody batted an eye or spoke a word. Lee was forced to make a stop as he spotted a road block. A bunch of cars, vans, trucks were piled up like they were in a junkyard.

"Dammit." Lee hissed, hitting his head on the steering wheel. With so many distractions and at the pace they were travelling the Stranger was probably laughing at them at that precise moment.

"I think ya might be able to get around it." Luke commented, albeit he couldn't see much from his window.

"Yeah. Maybe." Lee agreed. Indeed, between the vans and cars that littered the road a small opening could be seen to the left. He prepared to do some tricky maneuvers, but Kenny barred him.

"Wait. One of 'em might have diesel." Kenny observed.

"We shouldn't stop here." Jane advised, cradling AJ in her arms. It was funny; she never planned to be a mother but now she found herself lulling a baby like she was a rocking chair. But she had gotten pretty good at it from the habit.

"I know. But we're runnin' on fumes. Got no choice." Kenny contradicted lightly.

"Want me to help you?" Lee volunteered, turning the car off in order to save gasoline.

"Nah, it's fine. Vanilla Ice can lend me a hand." He said, exiting the truck. "When I holler, drive up closer. If somethin' happens, I'll try to meet you there." He instructed, pointing his finger at a sign that said 'REST STOP 1 MILE'. Lee nodded and the redneck shuttered his door with strength. Then he beckoned for Nick to go help him, and in a couple seconds both of them had vanished.

"_Lee?_" The electronic voice of a little girl echoed in the car, catching the survivors by surprise. Lee frowned and didn't squander any time picking up the walkie-talkie.

"_Sweet pea?!_" He enquired in surprise, his voice throbbing in enthusiasm. "_Where are you?! Are you alright?!_"

"_Lee…?! I'm in a…some kind of rest stop AHHHHH!" _The emission was cut off by Clem's scream and by an irritating sizzle.

"No!" Lee said to himself, already imagining the worse. He smoothed himself and then he stored his radio away.

"Holy shit. Did she say they were at a rest stop?" Luke inquired in bewilderment.

"Yes. She did." Lee slowly admitted. He now became more impatient than ever; Kenny and Nick were taking forever just when he had a clue on her location.

"Maybe she meant THAT rest stop?" Ben suggested, beaming his finger at the sign Kenny mentioned earlier.

"It'd make…" Jane concurred, but was interrupted when two gun shots were fired from amidst the fog. The group was crammed with fear; they could've met up with walkers or bandits, anything. But the noise was sufficiently loud to wake up the dead.

"Oh shit…" Ben spat as handfuls of walkers started invading the road. They kept appearing; from under the cars, from between the trees, from the fog…

"Lee! Get us out of here!" Jane ordered since some of the lurkers began to trek towards the truck.

"What?!"

"Jane, are you freakin' crazy?!" Luke demanded, staring right at her eyes. "Kenny and Nick are out there!"

Lee gulped as one of the zombies clashed against the car. He had to do it; if he didn't drive toward that rest stop now, he could lose his chance of capturing the Stranger. "Sorry, Luke. They're just gonna have to meet us at the gas stop." Lee grunted, switching the engine back on and engaging one of the highest gears. Luke opened his mouth to riposte, but was interrupted when the car went at full velocity down the road. Lee put the pedal to the medal and in a second they were speeding down towards the rest stop, ignoring any biter who stepped in their way.

Suddenly, a walked strolled into their path. In a second, it seemed to be far away, but Lee didn't manage to stop; so in the next second they crashed against it. The windshield was broken and the zombie was left balancing itself on it, with half its body dangling inside the car to get Lee. The vehicle was filled with screams and gasps before Lee twisted the wheel, causing the truck to spin around 360 degrees and coming to a full stop.

Jane hurried and opened the door to her right, allowing her, Ben and Luke to exit, although Lee was left stranded in the driver's seat.

"Move, move, move!" Luke shouted at Ben so he'd hurry to get out.

Lee reached for his Glock and put it against the walker's skull. He pressed the trigger and it became inanimate just as the bullet went through it. "C'mon! Get out of there, there are more!" Jane shouted, but was forced to retreat when a small herd passed by. Lee glanced outside and spotted a few walkers marching towards Jane, Ben and Luke. Lee grabbed an AK-47 and strapped it onto his back, before he checked that his door was jammed, and he had to scoot to exit through the passenger entrance.

Once he was outside, the cold wind pushed the freezing temperature and the fog against Lee's skin. He clutched his own torso and saw Jane disappear into the gloom and Luke along with Ben vanished into an opposite direction from her. They were all three being impetuously chased by lurkers. Lee noted an ugly lurker that lunged at him, craving for human flesh, but he calmly took aim and blasted his brains with a well-placed shot; killing it instantly.

Lee looked around him, trying to get his bearings. He held onto his body for warmth and then began to jaunt towards the rest stop. Once he had taken some steps, he noticed that the fog started to become denser and denser, which concerned him. He discerned the outline of a roaming body despite the challenge it was to see things; but it only took a second to fire a round into its head to end its misery.

The fog was now thick as a wall. Everything was reduced to white like the canvas of an artist waiting to be painted. But then Lee then heard a creaking sound. For some reason, the same sound was familiar to him but he couldn't recognize it. Not knowing what else to do, he kept listening it and following it. On the way, he encountered once again another zombie which didn't take much problem to be put down. Lee widened his eyes as he differentiated some objects: a pair of swings, a sand-box and a swing. And now he knew where he remembered that sound: when he was a kid he loved swings, and he recalled the creaking from the swings that needed some oil. But beyond the devastated playground he saw the rest stop.

Finally he had reached it. He had made it. But his blood ran cold when he turned his head and saw a vehicle. A brown and yellow station-wagon. But it wasn't just any vehicle; Lee and his group had stolen its supplies a couple weeks back at the St. John dairy. They had thought that it was abandoned, and even Clementine had voted against taking the food that laid inside. However back then they were starving, and they had to take it.

"Shit!" Lee yelled when a walker jumped on top of him and clutched onto his arm. He had gotten so distracted that he hadn't noticed it appearing. He screamed when it sank its teeth onto his arm, but Lee reacted and shot sloppily at its face.

He leaned on his knees and panted, trying to recover from the shock. But then he noted that his sleeve was tainted with blood. "Oh no." He said as he passed his fingers around it, but he sighed heavily once he saw that the bite didn't go through the fabric of his shirt. "Thank God."

But just when he thought he was safe, he heard a gun cocking and felt its cold metal butting up against his back. He swiftly turned around and saw a man standing there. He had messy hair and a thin head; his tired and dragged facial features showed that he had been through a lot. His clothes were dirty and drenched in muck. They both stayed silent, hearing the wind sweeping and the snowflakes falling on top of them. "Hello Lee." The Stranger greeted.

"Hello." Lee said as calm as he could. His strategy was to make this guy think he came in peace, and then maybe he'd let his guard down, allowing him to gain the upper hand.

"This is…civil." He perceived. "Let's get inside." He ordered, pointing the gun at Lee. The only option he saw was to obey.


	9. Chapter 9 - Human Nature

The Walking Dead: Town Across The River

Chapter 9 – Human Nature

**A/N: I know I said in the previous chapter that this would be the finale, but I had to cut it short due to length. So this one is going to truly be the penultimate chapter and the next will be the finale. For real this time! Anyway, enjoy and leave some feedback please!**

Lee and the Stranger entered the rest stop, the latter always behind Lee and pointing a gun at him. The vision inside the building was desolated; it was vacant except for a vending machine in which a pair of rodents scavenged for food and two chairs were placed in the middle of the room. Lee noticed that the two bathroom doors were tied to each other through the knobs; something he didn't quite understand.

"Go over there." The Stranger instructed, aiming at a counter, where people paid for gas and the various snacks the gas station used to have before the dead. Lee cautiously walked up to it, careful not to get shot, until he was facing the counter. "Put your things down."

"Let me out! Who's out there?!" Lee heard Clementine yap from the washrooms.

Lee opened his mouth to announce his presence, but he was interrupted when the Stranger butted the edge of his gun against his cheek.

"Shh." He whispered with a finger pressing against his lips. "Quiet, please, sweetie. Your things down."

Lee sighed and reached for the AK-47 he had slung in his back, but the Stranger adverted him. "Slowly." Lee continued unstrapping it and then tossed the assault rifle on the table in front of him. He also grabbed his walkie-talkie and gently put it in front of him.

"That's all." Lee lied with a flat voice.

"You're a bad liar, Lee." The Stranger told him, but he didn't respond. "I know you were shooting walkers outside…with a handgun." Lee didn't saw any other choice. He unsheathed the Glock 17 and threw it on the table. "Is that really everything?"

"Look, man, wanna frisk me?" Lee demanded, raising his arms a bit to demonstrate he wanted to collaborate.

"I'm not touching you. Sit down." The Stranger ordered. He gradually paced towards the lawn chairs and sat in one of them. The Stranger comfily sat on the opposite seat, facing Lee. To demonstrate his 'good intentions', he lowered the gun a bit. Lee noted that a small bag was situated on the floor between the two of them. "You look horrible. And you're missing an eye. Do you know who I am?"

Lee took a good look at the man. He knew his identity. He was the owner of the station wagon they had raided a couple weeks back. Although he didn't know what this man had gone through. The reason he had taken Clementine. "No. I don't know anything about you."

"People like you wouldn't." The Stranger hissed yet in a calm tone. "Now you're thinking, 'who would have it out for me?', huh? A few weeks back, there might have been a station wagon in the forest." Lee budged his face and arched his eyebrows even though he wasn't surprised. "Full of all sorts of food, water, things you need to survive." Lee didn't interfere with his speech. He just kept quiet and listened. "Yeah, I'm not some cannibal, Lee. Some killer out in the woods. Some villain. I'm just a dad. I coach little league."

"I didn't take from you." Lee belied him.

"Your people didn't?" The Stranger repeated, lifting an eyebrow.

"I didn't agree with it." Lee confessed, shaking his head.

"That's what little Clementine said. Why didn't you?" The Stranger curiously enquired.

"It wasn't right. It wasn't our stuff."

"That's real nice of you." The Stranger said sarcastically.

"Look. What do you want me to say?" Lee asked, starting to lose patience. He wondered where Kenny, Nick and everyone else were. He just hoped that they wouldn't arrive before he took care of the Stranger, because that could cause trouble.

"I don't want you to say anything." The Stranger told him, reclining on the lawn chair. "I want you to know what happened." He took a pause and a deep breath. "Have you ever…hurt somebody…you care about?"

"Yeah. Of course." Lee admitted.

"Who?"

Lee started taking turns on his brain. He could spend the entire day talking about the people he'd hurt, but there was only one image that was one-hundred percent vivid on his mind. "My wife."

"Clementine said she wasn't with you." The Stranger elaborated.

"I hurt her a long time ago." Lee twitched his face in pain, as he dodged his gaze away.

"How?"

"In a lot of ways." He explained, but the Stranger gave him a look that indicated that he wanted to hear more. "She travelled for work. I didn't like that. I wanted a family."

"That's a reasonable thing to want." The Stranger acknowledged.

"So we fought. And it made my biggest fear come true. I got sick one day on my way to class. Cancelled it and went home. Found her there with someone else. Killed him." Lee recapped up the whole story. And he felt his long-buried scars come back alive again. "I was mad at her for so long and I can't imagine how much pain she felt. How about you?" Lee inquired. It was his turn to tell his story.

He lowered his head like a disappointed puppy, staring at the floor. Then his head rose and he glared at Lee. "I hurt her so bad…my son, Adam, went missing. I took him out hunting even though my wife said he was too young. I figured he had to learn. I came back without him and the look on her face said: "You are a monster". We all went out looking for him. We never found him. I hurt her so bad. And then we came back and all of our stuff was gone. Your people, Lee. That asshole in the ball cap. His stupid fucking wife. I could've earned her trust back if you hadn't made our situation so desperate. The hungrier we got the more she blamed me. Until she finally took out daughter, Elizabeth, and left. They didn't last long…I found them a day later on the road." He concluded his story with a lump up his throat. Maybe he was a sicko, but it was hard for Lee to not feel some kind of empathy for him. "Do I look like a monster to you?"

"We're all monsters nowadays." Lee said, not wanting to piss him off to much.

"I'm not like you!" The Stranger jeered, nearing his face to Lee's. "You brought a little girl to a dairy full of sick people and let them get their hands on her!" He blamed.

"It's more complicated than that." Lee defended himself, but the Stranger didn't stop.

"You let a boy get yanked out of a window so you could protect a pretty girl with a gun!"

"It was impossible to save him, I tried to help both of them!"

"You let Carver and his people take you and Clementine to a place where she had to work like a slave!" The Stranger raised his voice. Lee was getting furious; he was blaming him of things that he couldn't have controlled.

"That situation was out of my hands!" Lee riposted, getting pissed off at his arguments. "I couldn't fight back."

"You forced Reggie to leave, even though he didn't want to! And now look where he ended up." He accused.

"He would've died if we left him back at Howe's!" Lee answered, now elevating his tone of voice too.

"You led your group into the middle of a herd, endangering the lives of everybody!"

"It was the only way out at the time!" Lee argued, so angry that he wanted to jump on top of the Stranger and beat the shit out of him.

"You stole from Arvo and killed Alvin and Sarah during the firefight!"

"I gave Arvo back all of his supplies. He was the one who attacked."

"You let Carlos be murdered in cold blood!"

"I couldn't have predicted that Arvo would do that."

"And now you've dragged your group all the way here, only to get me!" The Stranger finished his accusations, only to remark that he was casting his gun at Lee. He sank in his chair again and decreased his arm.

Lee lowered his head. His chest was being blown away by feelings of anger, sadness, regret… "How could you know all this?" He asked in a hoarse voice. The Stranger gaped smugly at him, before he pulled out a walkie-talkie and setting it on the ground. Lee frowned at the sight of the device.

"You're a monster. You're a murderer and a thief and I'm gonna hurt you so bad." The Stranger threatened with great despise in his voice.

"This doesn't have to go down this way." Lee essayed to reason with him.

"You can't take care of anyone!" He shouted at the urban man. "After I found Clementine on the radio I wasn't even mad at you. I was coming for the others. For revenge. But the more I heard about the things you did and the danger she was in…our plan changed. Lee, listen to me." He beseeched, catching Lee's attention. "I need you to hear this before what happens next. I can take care of her. We can have a family. I can even take care of little AJ if you want." Lee exhibited a serious expression, showing that he wasn't convinced. "I bet you don't even know how old she is."

"She's eight." Lee elucidated. He remembered the first day of the outbreak, in which Clementine told him through the radio that she was eight years old.

"Wrong." The Stranger told him. He was sadistically pleasured with the stupid face Lee had. "She's nine."

"But…"

"Her birthday was six days ago." The Stranger expounded. "I know how to be a dad, you know. She wouldn't have been exposed to what she has been with you."

"No, shut up." Lee commanded, getting sick of his accusations.

"It makes sense."

"It's not happening." Lee insisted. "Let us go." He pleaded in a smooth tone.

"No. No, I don't think so. You're going away and we're starting a new family." He concluded, before he bent over his body and spoke to the bag. "Hey honey. I think this is all gonna work out."

"What the…" Lee trailed off, but then he noticed something bizarre. He looked past the Stranger and saw a shadow approaching the glass door. At first it was unrecognizable, but then he identified two silhouettes who wore baseball caps. _Nick and Kenny._

He noted that Kenny shelled his eyes and abutted upon the glass door, and he widened his eyes when he saw at was happening inside. He made a signal for Nick to stay put, and then he opened the door ever so delicately to avoid making noise. He looked right into Lee's eyes, and seemed confused and dazzled. He stepped inside and was careful not to make noise whilst closing the door, and then he crouched down and started walking slowly toward the Stranger.

"I miss you so much, Tess." The Stranger kept rambling with the bag, which contained a reanimated head. "You're going to like Clementine a lot though. She's not Lizzy, but she's sweet. She wouldn't…" He was cut off when Kenny got up and wrapped his arms around his neck, performing a sleeper hold. The Stranger waved his limbs around, strangling for air. Kenny didn't waste any time and he basically dived onto the hand that clutched the Beretta. He gripped the gun and basically ripped it off from his fingers, always making sure that the barrel was aiming somewhere safe.

Kenny let go and the Stranger fell on his knees, gasping for air. He coughed, spitting all over the floor, and when he was recovered he lifted his head, only to see the barrel of the Beretta right in his face.

Nick entered the room, agitated from all the fight he had witnessed. "Geez…did you got him?"

"Yeah!" Kenny hollered in victory.

"See, Lee?" The Stranger talked, coughing a bit before continuing his phrase. "You people are killers. What're you gonna do? Shoot me in the head?" Nobody retorted, Kenny just kept the gun firm and in place. "I wouldn't be surprised. People like you guys…that's all they do."

"Hey guys, calm down." Nick intervened, with a determined expression. "He's no longer a threat! Let's just tie him up! We don't have to go that low."

"Nicholas, this motherfucker kidnapped Clementine! We can't leave him alive!" Kenny contradicted, although he sounded like he thought he was the one in command.

"He's right." Lee agreed, something Kenny wasn't expecting. A minute ago Lee wanted to rip the guts off the Stranger, but now he was unarmed and couldn't do any damage. "We shouldn't kill him."

"You guys are talkin' a buncha fuckin' nonsense." Kenny simply said before pulling the trigger. Nick and Lee were caught off guard and they went deaf from the sound as it penetrated the skull of the Stranger easily. Lee and Nick shook their heads to make the ringing sound go away, and when they recuperated their faces twisted in absolute fear. His brains were splattered all over the floor, his eyeballs had rolled back and his dead body slumped on the ground.

"What…the…what…" Nick gagged, shocked by Kenny's action.

"He was gon' slow us down." Kenny stated, strapping the Beretta on his belt. "There was no use in keepin' him alive."

"Kenny, are you freakin' insane?!" Lee demanded, infuriated at what Kenny had done. "He was inoffensive!"

"Lee, I can't believe you're sayin' all that shit!" Kenny conceded with a nervous grin. "Ya came tearin' through the entire place to kill this piece of scum!"

"But he was unarmed! We had no right to kill him." Nick meddled. Kenny turned around and approached his face to Nick's, almost touching him.

"Hey, Momma Boy, stay outta this!" Kenny voiced loudly.

But suddenly Nick swung his arm backwards, and then throbbed it towards Kenny's face. The redneck couldn't react and was punched square on by Nick. Lee took a few steps back and extended his eyelids, just as Kenny lifted his head and then punched Nick in the stomach.

"Hey! Stop it, you two!" Lee shouted as he dashed in between the two of them. He placed his arms on the chests of the two men to keep them from getting near each other. "Are you guys gone insane?!"

"No, Lee, I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore." Nick bawled, staring at the hillbilly. "Kenny's been terrorizing us ever since we met him! He forces us to do things against our will and he's been gettin' people killed!"

"Hey, that's a fuckin' lie." Kenny roared, taking a couple steps towards Nick but Lee barred him with his arm.

"It's true!" Nick declared with a convinced voice. "If ya hadn't treated Arvo so bad he wouldn't have tried to escape, and Bonnie and Carlos might've been still alive today! If ya hadn't been so reckless with your 'wounded warrior' crap, Reggie would've been alive too!" He enumerated with his fingers. Kenny was now hyperventilating, with his fists clenched.

"Nick, where the hell is this coming from?!" Lee enquired. Never had he seen Nick standing up from himself like this.

"It's the truth, Lee!" And then Nick though of saying something. Something he had wanted to say a long time ago but kept it inside of him. "And I think that's why your family died too." He said in a cold voice. Lee widened his eyes; Nick was either really stupid or really brave to have said those words.

"YOU FUCKIN' ASSHOLE!" Kenny thundered, as he elbowed Lee aside against the wall. Lee took a few steps back until he crashed against the wall. Since the way was clear, Kenny ran towards Nick and grabbed his collar with all his might, and then pushed him until he collided against the window, shattering it completely. Nick gazed into the redneck's eyes in pure shock.

"Guys, stop!" Lee cried, knowing that this was getting out of hand. He wanted to go get Clementine, who was probably confused on what was happening, but he had to solve this situation.

Kenny had his arm against Nick's neck and his second hand was propelling his chest to prevent him from moving. Nick started fighting back, so the latter raised his hand and wrapped his fingers around Kenny's face to make him disoriented. He kept scrambling his hand until his ball cap fell off his head. Lee paced beside Kenny and tried to separate him away from Nick, but had to back away when Nick struck Kenny in the stomach with his knee, causing him to fall flat on the ground. Nick took the chance and kneeled on top of Kenny, throwing punches at him from all directions as he feebly tried to protect himself.

"Nick! Kenny! This is getting out of hand!" Lee warned loudly, but to no use. So then he gripped Nick arm and set him away from Kenny. Both of them were laying on the floor, preparing to get up, just when Nick took out an extra Glock 17 he had on him and targeted Kenny with it.

The redneck had quick reflexes and got up in a hurry. Seeing he now had the advantage, he kicked Nick's hand. His gun flew across the room and accidentally fired a bullet.

They both stopped fighting when they were a whimpering. Their faces were perplexed and they were terrified once they turned their heads around. Lee was standing there, gazing at oblivion, drawing breaths with difficulty. After a couple seconds, his shirt was specked with blood, coming from a hole in his chest. Lee's body became weaker and he fell on his ass, leaning up against the counter near him.

"Holy…h…h…" Nick stuttered, realizing the mistake they had committed.

"Lee! Pal!" Kenny howled, jogging toward his friend. He kneeled beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, whilst Nick saw the scene with complete horror. "Lee…Lee…can you hear me?!"

"Clemen…Clementine…" He muttered, as his eyelids began to close in. "Take…take care of her…" He pronounced before his muscles went numb and his organs died down.

Kenny panted with pure anger. Nick, predicting what was going to happen next, stood up slowly as tears poured from his flamed eyes and picked the gun up. Kenny erected his body and glared at Nick with his eyes that were on fire, exhaling air heavily like a bull. Nick exalted his arms, the gun shaking erratically in his hands. "Don't…don't make me do this, Kenny. Nobody else has to die today." He sobbed, sniffing multiple times. Just as Kenny took his first step in his direction Nick pressed the trigger as hard as he could. He had shuttered his eyes and heard the sound of a body dropping on the floor. He knew the consequences of his action. He couldn't feel any strength in his legs so he fell on the ground, as he cried while on his knees.

**A/N: "Everything dies, sweetie. It's God's plan." – Hannah. Well, there you guys go. Again, a really big thanks goes to everybody that has been supporting this fanfic up until now, you guys are awesome! Believe me, it was really sad and depressing for me to write this. And I'll see all of you in the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10 - An End To All Things

**The Walking Dead: Town Across The River**

**Chapter 10 – An End To All Things…**

"I t-think I see the r-rest stop!" Luke asserted, beckoning at Jane and Ben. He stammered lightly due to the cold they had been exposed for so long now. The teen and the woman who carried AJ hurried their pace. They shelled their sight to see better, and the outlines of a building drew themselves on the horizon.

"L-let's hur-ry!" Ben stuttered, with his lower jaw battering against his upper one.

The group began walking towards the rest stop. It was really difficult to see what lied ahead of them, but they soon noticed the contours of a playground's toys. They slowly stormed through the snow below their feet until they saw a glass door.

Luke practically threw his body weight on the door to open it. He was nice and held it open for Jane and Ben to enter.

"T-Thank God…" Jane muttered. Her breath turned into vapor as it exited her mouth. Luke shuttered the door and the three people kept rubbing their arms against their chest to heat themselves up.

But they enlarged their eyelids once they got their bearings and realized what was happening before them. Nick was dropped on his knees, hiccupping as he sobbed continually. Worse, he was surrounded by the corpses of Lee, Kenny and some guy they didn't know. From inside the bathroom they heard Clementine screaming, begging to be released.

"Go, go!" Jane directed in a harsh tone. Ben thundered towards the washroom to release the little girl.

"Nick?" Luke called out softly as he took a few steps slowly toward his childhood friend. However he didn't react. "Hey, Nick…it's us…Luke, Jane and Ben."

Meanwhile, Ben removed the rope from the knob and opened the door. Once he did it, Clementine jumped onto his legs to hug him. Ben then peeked at the slaughter present in the station and lowered his head to Clem's height. "Clementine, uh…go inside the bathroom and don't come out until we say so, okay?"

"What? Why? I was in there for hours, where's Lee? I heard guns firing." She sputtered in a hurry. She took a step towards the rest stop, but Ben barred her.

"Just go inside, okay?" He beseeched. Clementine eyed him with puppy eyes before she hesitantly retreated into the washroom. Ben gave her a reassuring nod and then closed the door again.

Luke captured a movement from the corner of his eye. He noted Kenny that jerked a hand. But when he raised his head, his skin was grey and his eyes blank. And once he reanimated, he started flailing his arms to get Nick's bacon. "Oh shit!" Luke exclaimed as he pulled out his AK-47 in panic. He unlocked the safety and took aim. "I'm sorry." He mumbled before firing a round into Kenny's skull, killing him in a second.

Nick glanced at Kenny's body before he got up and turned around. His eyes were red as fire and his cheeks were blushed and dried. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I…me and Kenny started fightin'…my gun went off…it hit Lee." Tears began bursting out of his eyeballs when he pronounced those words. Luke placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him a bit.

"It's over, now Nick." Luke told him the best he could think of. "We're goin' back to Howe's."

The baby seemed to have understood the drama going on through the survivors, so he started weeping. "Shh, shh, it's okay…it's okay…" Jane smoothed the baby, caressing him on the stomach. That's all it took for it to stop. "Are you guys sure…that's where we should go?"

"There's nowhere else to go." Luke stated. "Let…Clem come out, Ben. She deserves a final moment."

Ben nodded in agreement. He grabbed the doorknob and revolved it, releasing Clementine. "Where's Lee?!" She demanded the second she got out of the washroom. But the only thing she saw was all of the grown-ups staring at her with a pitiful look.

"Clem, darlin'…" Luke elaborated, establishing a hand on Clementine's shoulder. "Lee…he…he's dead…."

"What? No, no, no, no…!" She repeated as she shook her head in denial.

"I'm…I'm…" Luke was interrupted when Clementine brushed past him and ran towards Lee's corpse. She hugged onto his body and began crying on his chest. The worst part was that the only thing they could do was stand there as a little girl's heart was broken.

"This is my fault." Nick whispered to himself, away from Clementine.

"No, Nick." Luke immediately contradicted. "Whatever happened, it ain't your fault."

Jane walked up to Clementine and kneeled near her. "I…I know how sad you are…" She affirmed. "I liked Lee too a lot…he was a great guy and we won't forget him…but we have to go now, okay?"

"Let her, Jane." Luke commanded, folding his arms. "We're not goin' anywhere with this snowstorm."

After a few seconds, Clementine rose her head and gazed at Jane. The woman patted her on the back with her free hand and gently pushed her away from her corpse. They were gonna bring a closure what Lee desired. Clementine's safety.

_NINE DAYS LATER…_

The group walked out from between two thin trees and stared at Howe's Hardware mall. Jane was leading them, with her Glock 17 in her hand and ready to fight any opponent that might've stuck around in Howe's. Nick always kept his head down; ever since he had murdered Kenny and Lee he was going through a state of depression Luke had never seen. Ben was right by them, latching Nick's Winchester Model 70 rifle. Since Luke was a farmboy he had some experience with those and he had taught Ben everything. And he was actually becoming a rather good shot. Clementine kept to herself nowadays, rarely speaking a word. Luke was on their rear, clutching the baby.

In front of them, they saw the metal gate entrance to the stockroom, the place where Jane had shot Troy's dick into oblivion. They saw multiple zombie corpses lying about, stacked in piles or just cluttering the ground. They also spotted a red and white truck near the entrance, although it probably wasn't functional.

"Can't see much from here." Jane guaranteed, as she stepped out in the open. "Let's go take a closer look."

The group marched their way toward the stockroom in a slow pace, to avoid getting gripped by a walker whose brain hadn't been totally destroyed or something. The area was deemed to be safe, so they managed to climb onto the stockroom easily.

"Geez…" Ben murmured. In the middle of the room, there laid William Carver's body, in the same place where Kenny had emptied a clip of AK-47 on his body, and then Lee followed by shooting him in the head.

"Let's keep movin'." Luke instructed, wanting to leave the past buried. Most of the crates that previously rested upon the shelves were gone, but there was still a lot to go around. If they rationed that could last them for months.

The group walked towards a nearby pallet, except for Clem that didn't move around a lot. That same pallet had some card boxes on top of it, along with some cans and bottles piled in a mountain.

"I think this is baby formula!" Ben shouted in joy, as he set down the heavy rifle on the floor and picked up one of the cans.

"Yes, it is! Looks like we'll have somethin' to feed AJ." Jane praised, inspecting some of the food.

"Perhaps we should go check out the rest of this place." Luke suggested, as he stood up and examined his surrounding a bit better.

"The greenhouse might be intact." Nick said with total lack of emotion in his voice, with his head lowered.

"Good idea, Nick." Luke agreed. "Let's go check it out."

The group travelled all the way to the rooftops, with Luke leading the way since he knew the place like the palm in his hand. Eventually, they laid eyes on the small hut that they called the green house.

"I think it's in good shape…" Ben opinionated. From the outside, it seemed like the structure was whole, although from the inside it was covered with plastic sheets.

"It looks great." Luke concurred. He knew his stuff about gardening and he knew that they could plant fruits and veggies there.

"Y'know, maybe we should stick around here for a while." Jane proposed. It was actually a good idea and everybody seemed to agree. If they put that place as safe as it once were, they would be well-stocked on food and would be protected. "See how it goes."

"Sounds like a great idea." Luke smiled, before he and Jane shared a passionate kiss.

"Guys…we have company…" Nick adverted the group. Everyone widened their eyes and paced quickly towards the edge of the roof. They spotted three people heading their way; a woman, a man and a kid.

"Holy moly." Ben blurted out, before looking at his fellow survivors. "What do we do?"

"Let's go talk to them. They don't seem armed." Jane suggested.

The group jogged at a quick speed towards the yard. When they reached it, it seemed as deserted as the rest of that place. Clementine and Ben both remembered the time in which they were kept prisoners in here, but they shrugged off those thoughts and faced the three survivors approaching them.

The man had ginger hair and ginger beard. He donned a black shirt with white sleeves along with army camouflage pants and boots. His eyes were magnified by his glasses.

The woman seemed to be of Hispanic ethnicity. She had a tanned skin and a yellow hoodie. Her hair was coiffed and was colored in nuances of chocolate.

The kid appeared to be of African-American ethnicity. He bore a blue bubble jacket with brown pants, and his head was shaved. His brown eyes matched his skin.

"This your place?" The ginger man asked. Jane and Ben were ready to deal with him if he attacked them; they were more suspicious since the man's hand lingered around the back of his waist.

"Yeah, it is." Luke confirmed in a firm voice, always cradling the baby carefully.

"Really?" He insisted, with an incredulous tone.

"Yeah. Why?" Ben inquired in curiosity.

"We need help." The woman claimed, in a soft and sweet but desperate emphasis.

"Look, my boy…" The ginger pointed at the kid. The group thought weird how they both had different ethnicities, but they didn't question them. "He ain't doin' so good."

"What's wrong with him?" Jane quizzed, keeping a careful eye for any sudden moves.

"Look, don't worry, he ain't…he ain't bit…" He assured, not wanting to alarm the people they had just met. "Just hungry. We've been runnin' for weeks." The group exchanged some stares among them. The man took his chance and took a couple steps forward. "Ran outta food a couple days back."

The group didn't say anything. "That your entire family? Or do you have a crew?" Luke interrogated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. I'm Randy. These are Patricia and Gill." He greeted, aiming his finger at his family members. Nobody talked another word, so Randy shrugged his shoulders. "That your kid?"

"No." Luke replied in a brief way.

"Where you guys been?" He said, trying to make small talk.

"In a lot of places." Nick answered in a vague form. They didn't want to reveal to much information about themselves until that family could be considered as good people.

"So, uh…this place needs a lot of work." Randy detected. He deposited his hands on his hips and both his son and wife took a few steps towards them, showing that they were letting their guard down.

"So?" Jane said.

"We can help." Randy came forward with a friendly tone.

"There's not much food left…" Jane stated lowly to her pals.

"Jane, what're you talkin' about? We have plenty left. If we ration, even with these people, we can last a few good months." Luke observed, turning his head slightly but always with his eyes banded with Randy and his family.

"Is it really worth it?" Ben questioned. He didn't want to let them die out there, but it could be perilous. "Strangers always cause trouble."

"Please. We won't make it another night out here." Patricia uttered. AJ began crying a little, but Luke soothed him by lulling him.

"Look, I know you don't know us…" Randy cut to the chase, voicing the thing everybody was thinking. Patricia touched her husband's arm, but Randy shook it away from here. Shady. "And I know a lot of people around here say a lot of things. But I'm askin' you. As a father. Please don't turn us away."

"I don't know…" Jane articulated. "They could be anybody. Do we really want to go through this again?"

"We have to let them in." Clementine spoke up. Everybody spun around and looked at her. "It's what…Lee would've done."

"Alright then. It's set." Luke disclosed. Nick didn't seem all too happy about it, but he had to silently agree. "Come in." Randy and his family gasped in cheering, as they shared smiles. "'Round the side." The family nodded and walked away, soon disappearing behind the walls.

"Are you guys sure about this?" Jane queried, making sure they were doing the right thing.

"Yeah. We can put this place back to how it was." Luke conveyed. The group made a U-turn and entered Howe's Hardware, heading to the emergency exit. "It ain't much. But we'll make it better."

Once they reached the door, Jane grabbed the handle bar to open it. "Remember. Just keep an eye on them." She concluded, before she pushed the door open. Randy, Patricia and Gill entered the mall, as they gazed around the room in enthusiasm like a kid in a candy shop. The vision inside wasn't too good; blood was spilled around every surface and tons of bodies were tossed around the floor.

"My name's Patricia." She told them, albeit they already knew that.

"Jane. That's Ben, Luke, Nick and Clementine." She presented everybody. Suddenly, Patricia jumped on top of Jane and clutched her deeply for a hug.

"Thank you so much Jane." Patricia blessed. Jane just smirked and hugged her back, before they freed each other.

"You're welcome." She added.

Randy kept pacing around the mall, admiring it. But when his back was facing the group Luke noticed a gun on his belt. It wasn't suspicious; after all everyone needed one of those to survive. But he gestured his head toward it, warning his fellow friends. They all nodded, as a sign that they had understood.

"Cool hat." Gill complimented. Clementine looked at him, before she shyly shifted her gazed away.

"Yeah. Thanks." She flatly said.

Perhaps Randy and his family were actually good people. They didn't know what the future had in store for them, but things were looking up for once. They had food and ammo. Walls that could become as strong as a fortress. Good people around them. And that small glint in the survivors' hearts made them hopeful…hopeful for a better world…

…

Inside a rest stop, there were three bodies, arranged in a sloppy way. One of them killed by his lust for revenge. The other perished from his own temper. And the last one, Lee, was murdered by his own friend due to an accident. Before Clementine and the group left, nobody had had the courage to shoot him in the head. Meaning he was going to come back as a walker. Outside the storm had stopped. The icy precipitation had died down and everything was calm.

Suddenly, his eyelids opened fully and his lungs sucked in air as they could with a strong gasp. The rough respiration caused Lee to start coughing violently. He tried to lift his hand to cover his mouth, but his bones felt like they were made of glass. They were immobile and insensitive.

The coughing stopped and he smoked some feeble puffs of air. _Is this what it's like to be dead?, _he thought. But he couldn't be dead. Walkers and cadavers don't need air or have the ability to think.

He rolled his eyes down and he saw it. In the right side of his torso, a hole was profoundly pierced in it. Blood was staining his shirt and dripped down his skin. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew that the bullet had probably struck his lung.

He couldn't recall too well what had happened. The last thing he saw was a Glock 17 flying across the room before he heard a loud noise and everything went black. And now he was slowly dying, with painful articulations and difficulty breathing.

The next second, he heard the gas station's door being open. He twisted his head and saw a person entering. It was definitely a woman; he perceived that by her curves and long, brown hair. The silhouette gradually walked closer and gazed in shock at the dead bodies around her. But Lee was absolutely blown away when he recognized her face.

"Lilly?!"

**A/N: Well, we've reached the end my friends. A huge thanks to everybody who has supported this fanfic, I enjoyed very much writing this. What comes next, you say? Well stay tuned for an update when Season 3 comes out, and check out my other fanfics for TWD goodies. A shout-out to some of my best readers:**

**Rebloxic**

**TheDxKid**

**kesarkuch**

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**AquaDestinysEmbrace**

**BLACK-OP1**

**Legionary Prime**

**ZombieSlayer995**

**Rossana's Mind**

**Canada4Usagi**

**Micidonalboss**

**PotterWhoFan**

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**leafs nation**

**Muffin Wedge**

**GingerNewt**

**NeoTyson**

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**Gumby Chef**

**Mr. Unkn0wn**

**I guess I'll see you around! And remember:**

** "****We are the walking dead! We are…the walking dead…!" – Rick Grimes**


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